Massimo Cellino has dragged us into yet another legal battle, as the FA has charged us with breaking their rules on agents during the transfer of Ross McCormack to Fulham in 2014.

The FA has been investigating the affair for many months and three different parties have been charged by the governing body this afternoon. They are the club, Cellino himself, and McCormack’s agent Derek Day, and they all have until Friday to submit a response.

The alleged breach of rules concern a payment of £185,000 which Leeds made to Day, which he is said to have taken on behalf of McCormack’s advisor, Barry Hughes. The problem being that although Derek Day is licensed by the FA, Hughes is not.

The most likely outcome is that the club will be fined, following the precedent set by Arsenal’s fine of £60,000 for a similar breach, after signing Calum Chambers from Southampton in 2014. In the topsy-turvy world of the FA, McCormack has not accused of any wrongdoing, even though he seems to have been the one who caused the problem in the first place by using an unlicensed agent.

Leeds United have declined to make an official comment so far.

Maybe Cellino was unlucky on this occasion, as the unlicensed agent in question was representing McCormack’s interests during the transfer negotiations, rather than those of Leeds United. It also happened at a time when Cellino was new to English football and wouldn’t have been familiar with the regulations.

But it does also show the pitfalls of Il Presidente getting rid of most of the experienced staff at the club, and trying to run everything himself with minimal admin backup. It’s galling to see even more of the club’s money being wasted in this way, after all the damages and legal fees we’ve had to pay out in the various court cases we’ve had in the last few months.

We’ll have to hope that this was our last breach of the rules and that nothing similar happened in any of the many transfers that have taken place since we sold McCormack. But given the chaotic way that Cellino has run the club ever since he arrived, we never know when the next problem will crawl out of the woodwork.

Photo: Action Images

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