And now for today’s second episode in the great soap opera that Leeds United have become under Massimo Cellino. It’s now been alleged that il Presidente was interfering with the running of the club during the period of his ban towards the end of last season.
The claim has been made by our former consultant Graham Bean, who was effectively acting as the club’s Chief Executive 12 months ago. You may remember that Bean was sacked by Cellino for agreeing to Sheffield Wednesday’s request to change the date of a fixture, even though Leeds were required to accept the change under league rules!
Bean has now taken to twitter to claim that Neil Redfearn has texts on his phone which prove that Cellino was in regular contact during the time when he was banned from having any contact or interference with the running of the club. "Texts in existence which puts MC in potential breach of his ban — FA and FL will be interested to see them………..”
Bean also claimed that "Redfearn was happy to continue but Club made it impossible for him obstructing his return at every juncture. Redfearn not even allowed to speak to Academy staff to start pre-season planning unless he signed totally unacceptable contract. Redfearn now set to take action against Club to recover balance of contract owed to him. Club should have just settled and moved on.”
And finally he echoed the thoughts of many Leeds fans by saying "Redfearn acted with dignity throughout whilst the Club did everything it could to avoid his return despite claiming he could go back.”
It’s not immediately obvious how Graham Bean is in a position to know about these alleged texts or the conditions of Redfearn’s contract, as he left the club several months before Cellino’s ban started in January. But he would obviously have got to know Redders during his time at the club and it’s possible that the two have remained in contact since Bean’s departure.
What is certain is that both men now have every incentive to make life as uncomfortable for Cellino as they possibly can. Earlier in his career Bean was the ‘compliance officer’ at the FA, charged with dealing with the various dodgy owners who were in football at the time at various clubs, and I’m sure he won’t be reluctant to make use of whatever information he knows of that would implicate Cellino.
If Cellino is found to have involved himself in the running of the club during his ban it won’t really have come as a surprise to anyone. Did anyone really expect him to go off to Italy or Miami for a few months and make no attempt to influence events at Leeds United from behind the scenes?
It goes without saying this could potentially get Cellino into yet more serious trouble with the footballing authorities, with the likelihood of a further ban and potentially a forced sale of the club. We live in interesting times.