With Leeds on the verge of officially appointing Neil Redfearn as manager, we’ve moved into a critical time for Chairman/president, Massimo Cellino. The eccentric Italian has bought himself a huge amount of goodwill by ridding the club of GFH, and bringing in young ambitious players, who, for the most part, can play a bit. He made the right noises from the outset – buying back Elland Road and talk of taking the club back to the Premiership.
However, the support is seemingly splitting. He will have technically had 5 managers in the space of 18 games (McDermott last game of last season, Hockaday 6 games, Redfearn 4 games, Milanic 6 games, Redfearn at Cardiff), which is ridiculous.
If Redfearn is not backed – not financially, but properly backed, with support, and by letting him do things his way, he’ll start to have a problem. If he doesn’t come up with the proposed Elland Road buy back next month, he’ll have another one.
At the moment, I fear for my club. Cellino has a massive opportunity to get this right. He seems to get half way there, then screws things up with some baffling decisions. There is no doubt at all that the man knows his stuff. He is a real football man, with a huge passion for the game, and particularly us – however, this is also his downfall. He gets involved in far too much, interviews he doesn’t need to give, team changes that should be nothing to do with him etc. He micro manages to a ridiculous level.
The best thing he can do now is let Redfearn have a real run. To take a step back and just let him go with it. Pick the team, play it is own way – succeed or fail on his own. If Redfearn is sacked after a half dozen games or so, the tide will turn, and Cellino might once again be escaping an Elland Road car park via a taxi.
Get it right Massimo, and you will be adored for a long, long time – November is going to be a massive month for him, and the club.
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