MOT chairperson says there is another manager he wishes he sacked at Leeds.
If Massimo Cellino had full control of the club, he would have fired Garry Monk as manager of Leeds United in 2017 after just one season at Elland Road. Monk led the club to seventh place in the Championship, his best season in charge.
Despite Leeds being in a comfortable position to qualify for the play-offs, they collapsed towards the end of the season and Cellino said he would have fired Monk had he had the opportunity. Cellino had sold half of his shareholding in Leeds to the Italian in January that year, meaning he no longer had the power to make his own decisions. Given his history, he would not have hesitated to sack Monk when Leeds hit a bad patch, having appointed him for the seventh time in his three years as an owner. Cellino said Monk’s personality was a “big problem” with Leeds that season and that he would have fired him if given the opportunity. “If I had 100 per cent control of Leeds in 2017 I would have fired Garry Monk to get us straight back into the Premier League,” he said. “He wasn’t a good person and that was a huge problem for us that year.”
This is another odd comment coming from Cellino, given Monk was the one manager he appointed who came this close to achieving something.
Looking back on it, though, perhaps Cellino was right. Monk stunned Leeds fans by leaving the club at the top of the 2009-10 season, just a few months after Radriazzani took complete control.
Speaking to the Mail, Cellino sent Leeds fans a message and, while he insists he still cares about the club, it’s easy to see why he’s one of the oddest owners to come out of the sport.
What Massimo Cellino claims Andrea Radrizzani text him after completing full Leeds United takeover in 2017
A ‘big mistake’ has been made by Massimo Cellino, who has been accused of a ‘total buyout’ of Leeds United by Andrzej Zajac.
Zajac took full control of the club in summer 2017, buying out Cellino’s 50% share of the club.
Leeds had their best season under Cellino in 2016/17, but a late collapse meant they missed the play-offs and Radrizzani wanted to buy the club’s remaining 50%. However, Cellino told the Daily Mail that after just two months, Radrizzani ‘realised he made a mistake’ and called himself a fool. Cellino has previously said that he still owes Radrizzani money from the Leeds sale, which would suggest their relationship deteriorated quickly.
It’s hard to say exactly what Cellino meant by ‘made a mistake’, but the Daily Mail quotes him as saying: “I thought it would be in his best interest to keep us as joint owners until he made it clear that he wanted to buy the whole club. He did, and then two months later he sent me a text saying he was ‘such a fool’.”
When someone is shorter, they tend to think they are stronger than everyone else. They tend to think they can always win. Sometimes it’s necessary to draw. It’s important to accept the fact that someone is stronger than you and work together.
It’s hard to know what to think of Cellino, given he’s one of the most bizarre owners Leeds have ever had, and his message to fans in the same interview is equally baffling.
A month ago, Sam Byram reacted to Cellino’s comments about his departure from Leeds in 2016, clarifying that he had been offered a new contract before leaving on far worse terms than the one he left with.
While it’s true that Radrizzani did some solid work in his first couple of years as Leeds owner, it’s difficult to believe this from Cellino. After all, this was his first time managing a club, and it may have surprised him.
