Best Chairman in recent history?

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Cjay
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Re: Massimo Cellino

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Gandalf wrote:I can't believe that after three years of turmoil under that absolute clown, that any Leeds fan would want to praise him in any way whatsoever. He started off by sacking McDermott before he had even purchased the club, and then quickly backtracking after the fans reaction. Instead he waited until the final day of the transfer deadline to sack him, before starting his bizarre list of weird appointments - Hocakaday, Redfearn (twice), Milanic, Rosler, Evans. He only landed on Garry Monk after Darrell Clarke and Karl Robinson had turned the job down - the latter after Cellino had turned up late for his interview drunk or stoned or both.

Even his purchase was a shambles, once it became apparent that GFH still had their claws in the club, and that the purchase agreement gave them a large windfall out of future revenues, and had a say in any players purchased. If you add his meddling in team selection - now confirmed by previous ex-managers, and the glut of Serie B shite he brought into the club on long contracts, whilst forcing any decent player who could command a fee out of the door with laughable contract offers. It doesn't read as a good CV, does it.

People lauding him for selling to Radz, when it was less of a noble act, and more the act of a man desperate to sell to anybody who would match his price. We were very lucky that the right man came along when he did.

Also judging by his comments on Cellino on Talk Sport recently, it is very doubtful that Radz would be inviting him back to the club any time soon.
Respect your opinion and im not in any way saying he was perfect because clearly he wasnt.

But in my memory his competition was Peter Ridsdale, Ken Bates and GFH.

Compared to administration, 3rd division football, almost bankruptcy and asset stripping id say Massimo was a better chairman
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Re: Massimo Cellino

Post by Gandalf »

Cjay wrote:But in my memory his competition was Peter Ridsdale, Ken Bates and GFH.

Compared to administration, 3rd division football, almost bankruptcy and asset stripping id say Massimo was a better chairman
Didn't have much to beat did he?.
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Re: Grazie Mille Massimo Cellino

Post by I HATE CELLINO »

Possibly one of the most stupid articles i will EVER read..The drunken Coke fiend was a disaster..an egotisticle clown..never did D.D. ( Really professional )..then realised he had to keep us afloat or he would have lost his familys money,going into administration..upset.sacked,insulted people who have been at the club before he knew where Leeds was.Upset all the authorities and achieved nothing.We were a laughing stock on and off the field.He HAD to sell,he couldnt afford to run Leeds..Cagliari are lying now the leech has left,Leeds are flying since he left and now he is babbling the same garbage to Brescia fans..GFH must be have laughing to find someone as stupid as Cellino..Thank the lord Kenny Dalglish told Andrea about Leeds..he has done more in three months than the clown did in three years.

I honestly can not believe some people spout this pro Cellino GARBAGE,Embarrassing to read.
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Re: Grazie Mille Massimo Cellino

Post by crs.martyn »

Any owner who could appoint Dave Hockaday as manager deserves the bile of the Leeds fans. Enough said.
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Re: Grazie Mille Massimo Cellino

Post by Hagi Allwhite »

When the players were crap and results were too as was the football you could always relay on Massimo to keep our great club on the front pages. Obviously not all were for good reasons but there's no doubt he was a character and a very interesting man, I would have loved to have met him. I'm so pleased that this article has been produced and some of the hard facts about his tenure are recalled. Those idiots who protested against him in such vile ways made me ashamed to be a Leeds fan and I trust their actions will come back to haunt them one day.

Thank you Massimo, you're Leeds and we know you are!
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Re: Best Chairman in recent history?

Post by vidukas_heel »

The damage Cellino has done has set us back years. Allowing the academy to rot is perhaps his worst crime - it is our lifeblood and he refused to finance it. Laying off key backroom staff who kept the club producing players like Howson, Delph, Cook, Taylor over the years was unforgivable. Whatever you think of those players, the club's academy was it's crown jewels and he literally let it fall apart. Add to that two and a half years of abject embrassment, deliberate division of the fans, sexual discrimination court cases, disastrous press conferences, a string of bizarre appointments and sackings, and the public undermining of anyone who threatened to steal his limelight...it is a miracle we still exist at all given how poorly he ran the club. Radrizzani must curse Cellino every day for the damage he did that must now be undone.
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Re: Grazie Mille Massimo Cellino

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[b]"I honestly can not believe some people spout this pro Cellino GARBAGE,Embarrassing to read."[/b]

I don't know who you are, but it's possible to have a difference of opinion without characterizing someone else's opinion as stupid. If you're any kind of a decent human being you will apologize to Cjay.

We have lots of conflicting opinions flying about this site. At the very least, can't we all agree to be civil toward the other supporters of our club? After all, wherever we're from, we're all Leeds.

As for MC, all I know is we were in a lot better shape when he left than when he arrived. He did a lot that was bad, but on balance he was good for the club. When's the last time we could say that about any of our chairmen?
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Re: Best Chairman in recent history?

Post by hector »

..it is a miracle we still exist at all given how poorly he ran the club.
Had he not taken over the club and GFH were still in charge...

Where do you think the club would be now??
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Re: Best Chairman in recent history?

Post by vidukas_heel »

This is a lame duck argument. Like telling a child whose parents beat him: "You should just be grateful they had you in the first place".

If Cellino hadn't bought Leeds, someone else would have. Chances are they'd have done a far better job of ridding the us of GFH's involvement than he did. Ask yourself this: what if a better owner than Cellino had been in charge for the last three years? Where do you think the club would be now?

As fans we should demand better for Leeds United than people like him who drag our name through the muck.
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Re: Best Chairman in recent history?

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vidukas_heel wrote:
This is a lame duck argument. Like telling a child whose parents beat him: "You should just be grateful they had you in the first place".

If Cellino hadn't bought Leeds, someone else would have. Chances are they'd have done a far better job of ridding the us of GFH's involvement than he did. Ask yourself this: what if a better owner than Cellino had been in charge for the last three years? Where do you think the club would be now?

As fans we should demand better for Leeds United than people like him who drag our name through the muck.
If Cellino hadn't bought Leeds, someone else would have. Chances are they'd have done a far better job of ridding the us of GFH's involvement than he did.
Pure speculation since no one would come near the disaster wrought by Bates and then GFH at the club. Since we are speculating, GFH would've taken us into administration, again, like Bates did. Who would touch us then? It took Cellino, for all his faults and f-ups, 3 years to unravel the mess that Bates built up and propagated during his time in charge. MC had alot of faults, but was passionate enough about the club to try and sort it out, and leave us better than he found us.
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Re: Best Chairman in recent history?

Post by vidukas_heel »

[quote="Crude"]Pure speculation since no one would come near the disaster wrought by Bates and then GFH at the club. Since we are speculating, GFH would've taken us into administration, again, like Bates did. Who would touch us then? It took Cellino, for all his faults and f-ups, 3 years to unravel the mess that Bates built up and propagated during his time in charge. MC had alot of faults, but was passionate enough about the club to try and sort it out, and leave us better than he found us.[/quote]

Like you say, it's all speculation, just like the question of what would have happened to us if Cellino hadn't bought us. Anything could have happened.

The important thing for me is that we don't celebrate a man whose ownership of the club was wreckless to the point of destructive. Cellino didn't unravel the mess - Radrizzani is doing that right now by buying the stadium, appointing scouts, overhauling the marketing department, and running the club right. All the stuff that Cellino failed to do, because he was never there to improve the club.

Cellino is a leech who survives off football clubs but doesn't bring them success. He did it at Cagliari - they hate him there. He did it at Leeds - we should hate him too. The fact that he wasn't worse than GFH is nothing to celebrate. We should never let the likes of him near our club again. Sing his praises and it essentially endorses unscrupulous owners to run roughshod over clubs like ours.
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Re: Best Chairman in recent history?

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:shock: Havent been on since Saturday :shock:
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Re: Grazie Mille Massimo Cellino

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I HATE CELLINO wrote:Possibly one of the most stupid articles i will EVER read..The drunken Coke fiend was a disaster..an egotisticle clown..never did D.D. ( Really professional )..then realised he had to keep us afloat or he would have lost his familys money,going into administration..upset.sacked,insulted people who have been at the club before he knew where Leeds was.Upset all the authorities and achieved nothing.We were a laughing stock on and off the field.He HAD to sell,he couldnt afford to run Leeds..Cagliari are lying now the leech has left,Leeds are flying since he left and now he is babbling the same garbage to Brescia fans..GFH must be have laughing to find someone as stupid as Cellino..Thank the lord Kenny Dalglish told Andrea about Leeds..he has done more in three months than the clown did in three years.

I honestly can not believe some people spout this pro Cellino GARBAGE,Embarrassing to read.
"I HATE CELLINO" . .that says it all really, you hate someone based on owning a football club, love Leeds as much as im sure you do but i don't even hate Ridsdale because in my opinion hate should be reserved for those who have done things truly deserving of it, football never is a reason for pure hatred .

Hate to break it to you but we have been a laughing stock for well over a decade, under Ridsdale to the point "doing a leeds became a thing". Under Bates we went into administration and dropped to the 3rd tier and under GFH it ended with the man leading there negotiations and who eventually became Leeds managing director being arrested on suspicion of fraud, allegedly set up by GFH and spending ages in a jail in Dubai. GFH and Ken Bates are more questionable characters then Cellino Imo.

I havent said Cellino was perfect, but wont change my mind, compared to the above mess he was far from the worst thing to happen to Leeds as has often been spouted.
Last edited by Cjay on Mon Sep 18, 2017 7:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Grazie Mille Massimo Cellino

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JiL wrote:"I honestly can not believe some people spout this pro Cellino GARBAGE,Embarrassing to read."

I don't know who you are, but it's possible to have a difference of opinion without characterizing someone else's opinion as stupid. If you're any kind of a decent human being you will apologize to Cjay.

We have lots of conflicting opinions flying about this site. At the very least, can't we all agree to be civil toward the other supporters of our club? After all, wherever we're from, we're all Leeds.

As for MC, all I know is we were in a lot better shape when he left than when he arrived. He did a lot that was bad, but on balance he was good for the club. When's the last time we could say that about any of our chairmen?
Thank you :)

Its alright though, its a touchy subject for some people and expected a bit of a backlash. People will agree some will disagree and thats ok.

Didnt expect it to be quite so passionate lets say but its alright :lol:

And your last paragraph is spot on
Last edited by Cjay on Mon Sep 18, 2017 7:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Best Chairman in recent history?

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vidukas_heel wrote:This is a lame duck argument. Like telling a child whose parents beat him: "You should just be grateful they had you in the first place".

If Cellino hadn't bought Leeds, someone else would have. Chances are they'd have done a far better job of ridding the us of GFH's involvement than he did.
Ask yourself this: what if a better owner than Cellino had been in charge for the last three years? Where do you think the club would be now?

As fans we should demand better for Leeds United than people like him who drag our name through the muck.
If Cellino hadnt brought Leeds who else would have? From what we were told there were 2 concrete offers, Cellino and another who couldn't find enough funding. Those are facts as we were told, without being "in the know" thats the facts. So Cellino was the only concrete offer that had enough money behind it to buy the club. Im sure if GFH had had an offer they felt acceptable they would have sold, sad fact is we were a mess and people wouldn't touch us, hence why despite always hearing what a wonderful opportunity Leeds is for some billionaire Arab or whatever we never got one.
Did Cellino do proper due diligence, probably not, should we be glad he took a chance and didnt, absolutely, because if he had he would have found out what an absolute mess we were in and probably gone back to Miami with his wallet.

And then GFH would have stuck us into administration and we start again, not speculation it was widely reported at the time administration was a real possibility if a buyer couldn't be found.

Ask yourself this, what if GFH hadnt found a buyer at all where would we be?

A section of Leeds fans still seem to think we were an attractive prospect and billionaires were lined up at the doors of Elland Road waving there chequebooks, they simply wernt, if they were then Cellino by his own admission "is no Roman Abramovich" and his offer would have been rejected for a better one.

He was the only person who had the funding there and then to save us from GFH . . .

But respect your opinion its always nice to read different perspectives.
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Re: Grazie Mille Massimo Cellino

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Hagi Allwhite wrote:When the players were crap and results were too as was the football you could always relay on Massimo to keep our great club on the front pages. Obviously not all were for good reasons but there's no doubt he was a character and a very interesting man, I would have loved to have met him. I'm so pleased that this article has been produced and some of the hard facts about his tenure are recalled. Those idiots who protested against him in such vile ways made me ashamed to be a Leeds fan and I trust their actions will come back to haunt them one day.

Thank you Massimo, you're Leeds and we know you are!
Appreciate the positive post :scarf2: :shirt:
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Re: Best Chairman in recent history?

Post by vidukas_heel »

[quote="Cjay"]If Cellino hadnt brought Leeds who else would have? From what we were told there were 2 concrete offers, Cellino and another who couldn't find enough funding. ...

He was the only person who had the funding there and then to save us from GFH . . . [/quote]

This misses the point. Cellino may well have been the only person willing to buy Leeds at that time, but that doesn't mean he "saved" us, and it definitely doesn't make him worthy of our gratitude. People said the same thing about Bates when he bought the club. Should we be grateful to him for the years of misery he inflicted on us? Did he save us as well?

I'm not deluded enough to think that some benevolent genius would have swept in if Cellino hadn't bought us, but I don't think its a given that the club would have sunk without him. The fact that he spared us more years of GFH doesn't mean we should forget the damage he went on to inflict, particularly on the academy.

When Cellino first arrived there were protests by fans who could see he wasn't right for the club. Those people were proved correct, and if we should ever be so unfortunate to have another deluded, drug-addled lunatic darken our doors, we should all remember the shame and embarrassment he put us through - instead of rose-tinting his tenure and pretending he rescued us.
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