Love This Interview

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/leeds-united/11013554/Leeds-United-owner-Massimo-Cellino-tells-fans-We-will-do-this-my-way.html

It was late on Saturday night, several hours after Leeds United’s friendly win over Dundee United, and only one person was left at Elland Road. “There were lights left on everywhere,” owner Massimo Cellino fumes. “I had to go round and turn them all off, one by one. Unbelievable.”
The 58-year-old was still unhappy about the game as he furiously paced the corridors of the empty stadium. Unhappy with the players, who were “a long way from where they need to be”. Unhappy with the new manager, Dave Hockaday, who is “OK, but needs some babysitting”. Unhappy, even, with the ball boys.
“After 10 minutes of the match I said ‘where are the ball boys?’ The ball boys were forgetting to bring the ball back.”
If Cellino is like this after a friendly match, you wonder what he will be like during the season, which begins with a trip to Millwall on Saturday afternoon. An hour in the Italian’s presence feels like being caught in a whirlwind. The former Cagliari owner smokes constantly, twitches, runs his fingers through his hair nervously and talks furiously, barely giving you the opportunity to interrupt his stream of invective.
Is there another owner like this in English football? After all, this is a man who spent 16 days in prison last year; who plays accomplished guitar with his own band in front of crowds of thousands; and who is so superstitious that he had all the No 17 seats removed from Cagliari’s stadium because of a fear of the number.

He is also, of course, the first owner in English football to have failed the ‘fit and proper person’ test, although the decision was eventually overturned on appeal. In theory, the Football League could still bar him, as the full judgment in the fraud case is yet to be released. “Everything will be OK, I am going nowhere,” Cellino insists.
Cellino finally bought the ailing Championship club in April and quickly set about making his mark. There have been dozens of redundancies, Brian McDermott was replaced as manager by the unknown Hockaday, and the players were even made to bring in their own packed lunches and do their own laundry at the start of pre-season.
“The whole culture of this club needed to change and it’s still not right,” he says. “We need passion, hard work and commitment from everyone, from the cleaners to the players. At the moment I don’t see that.”
The players were made to do double training sessions during pre-season and have all been ordered to live in the city.
“I told them that if you play for Leeds, you live in Leeds,” he says, slamming the table with his palm. “Otherwise, I will fire you. And on Fridays they will have to come to the hotel to eat together and sleep.
“We have players living in Manchester, Liverpool, even Newcastle. Some were late for games because of the traffic. There were 10 players who came to the training ground last season to eat and shower before leaving without even training. And no one said anything! Have you ever heard of anything like this?”
One player who has already fallen foul of these exacting standards is the veteran goalkeeper Paddy Kenny, who was excluded from the pre-season tour to Italy and is now up for sale.
“Kenny turned up for pre-season training 20lbs overweight,” Cellino says. “Can you believe this? We offered him money to go. He said yes and then no. So I sent Kenny a letter, telling him he has to move from Manchester to Leeds and train six times a week, for three hours a day.”
Kenny’s replacement, Marco Silvestre, is “a beautiful player, the best in the Championship and one of the best in the whole country,” Cellino insists.
There have been four other signings, all from Italy, and at least three more are anticipated. Former Inter Milan and Sheffield Wednesday striker Benito Carbone, brought in as a ‘technical consultant’ to oversee the club’s academy, has gone the other way: his contract was terminated last week and he returned to his family.
“When Carbone first arrived in Leeds I told him we are guests in this country and we have to respect these people,” Cellino explains. “I put Carbone in charge of the academy, with Neil Redfearn as his boss. Carbone didn’t like that Neil was his boss and tried to take advantage.
“He went to Italy without permission, to see his sick mother, and wasn’t in Ireland when the under-21s had a game there. I can’t afford to have an Italian coach here who takes advantage. He gave them the chance to –––– him, he made a mistake. Who is going to be the next to make a mistake?”
The former Cagliari owner admits he is a control freak. “I work 20 hours a day and, if I could, I would cut the grass on the pitch as well,” he admits. “I have never had a chief executive and never will. People tell me I take too much on and maybe they’re right, but that’s just the way I am.”
There is one element of the Yorkshire club that he is undoubtedly satisfied with – the fans.
“I am the sheriff of this city and I want the fans to be my deputies,” he says. “I feel that I was born here. I can identify with these fans – we have the same passion; we are willing to fight; and we can be a little bit...” He pauses. “Crazy”.
Some of these blockaded him inside Elland Road when he first sacked McDermott in February, but he bears no ill feeling toward them. “I admire that. They’ve been treated badly for a long time and they are suspicious. I understand.”
Some of the supporter outrage has been soothed by the prospect of watching the club’s young players fast-tracked into first-team duties: Sam Byram, Alex Mowatt, Chris Dawson and, in particular, Lewis Cook.
“When I first saw this boy Cook play it was phenomenal,” Cellino says. “I wasn’t expecting to have someone so special playing for Leeds. He plays with personality and skill. When I found out he was 17, it was a fantastic surprise. But we must handle him in the right way. He is just 17 years old and we can –––– him up if we give him too much pressure.
“We must be careful to look after him. I have seen a lot of special talents like this lost to the game in a terrible way. And I have also seen ordinary players make it to the top level because they sacrificed themselves for the game. My dream is to get six or seven Leeds players in the England team during my time here.”
Cellino cannot be faulted for ambition, although the club’s supporters will be wary until there are tangible results on the field. At least the financial chaos that had afflicted the club appears to have subsided.
“When I came into this club it had an income of about £30 million a year and costs of £42 million – crazy,” Cellino says. “It had lost more than £100  million in 12 years. Now we will only make losses of £3 to £4 million a year and I can sustain that for 100 years, believe me.
“I have already applied to buy back Elland Road and we will do that by November. In time I will build a new training ground near the stadium. I don’t need to kiss the a--- of anyone, I am driving this bus.”
With Cellino at the wheel, the Leeds fans had better buckle up.

 

The hock is Ok but needs some babysitting! I'm not surprised, with cellino's record he's probably scared to take a piss without permission.

He's no fool though... Everyone's to blame except the wonderful fans!

 

Brilliant .. thanks so much for posting it .. so Carbone didn't get on with Redders and ended up losing out, may well be a blessing in disguise, but now we need a good coach for the Blazing Squad .. this is starting to sound more and more like a lot of fun, now all we need are those four additional players El Presidente, make the wonderful fans happy!!

Also, you have to love him stomping on Paddy Kenny, making it clear lazy footballers are not welcome, stay away and don't poison my squad ... the sooner the fat fcuk is gone the better!! It clearly had a positive efefct on Morison who must have run more on Saturday than he did all of last season at Millwall

 

A breath of fresh air. No doubt if anyone can return Leeds to top flight its Cellino

 

Think this guy liked the interview too ....

SporcoLeeds ‏@SporcoLeeds 13m
LUTV must do Cellino cam for all #LUFC matches, have him sat on a throne on half way line, charge a premium for the the uncensored version

 

You cannot dislike this fella....he shoots straight from the hip, tells it as it is and puts his money where his mouth is

you will not have a dull moment whilst he is in charge

 

Yep, the polarise opposite to the lying cheating scumbags we've been blessed with for years

 

Enough about me, what about Cellino?

 

Cheers Eire I'm chuffed to fook that we have this guy and believe all Leeds fans will have a big horn on for this guy by the end of the season. he knows what to say, what to do, takes no shyte, believes in the club and the players who will be left shortly, but will sack the coach if he screws up his chance of greatness. Refreshing is an understatement

 

It seems that it is going to be a case of **** or bust.

We are either going to be very very good and exceed most peoples expectations or we will crash and burn.

If one mans rhetoric can drive a team forward we will make at least the playoffs!
There I said it.

 

Elland could be handing him over the SBA at the end of this month,

for any number of reasons that will surface after your destruction at the Den

 

Did you have to use the p word you gobshite, you've jixed it now

 

Just getting in there before everyone else on Saturday night.

 

he was talking about the 'p' word.....not your boyfriend

 

The position is currently vacant, are you applying?

 

Will he ever learn...

 

mmmm interesting offer from such a smooth talking b******

 

“We have players living in Manchester, Liverpool, even Newcastle. Some were late for games because of the traffic. There were 10 players who came to the training ground last season to eat and shower before leaving without even training. And no one said anything! Have you ever heard of anything like this?” Shows how useless a manager McD was if he never stamped down on this kind of behaviour.

 

Cheers Eire,Cellino's a legend as far as I'm concerned he is one of the lad's.Didn't think I would ever say that about an Eyetie.

 

Think the big ego's were running the club ,turn up when they want put a bit of effort in when they feel like it.The free ride's over time for work or fook off.