Just when you thought that the state of Leeds United couldn’t get any more chaotic, it did. Massimo Cellino has been found guilty of tax evasion by an Italian court, throwing his takeover of the club into considerable doubt.
The charge against Cellino concerned the non-payment of more than £300,000 in import duty on a luxury yacht, and the outcome of the hearing was that the court in Cagliari fined Cellino 600,000 euros and ordered the yacht to be confiscated. Cellino’s defence lawyer immediately announced he will appeal, telling the Guardian "This verdict is absolutely unjust and we will appeal”.
But despite this furious denial, it now seems virtually certain that the Football League will now refuse to sanction Cellino’s purchase of a 75% stake in the club under their ‘Owners and Directors Test’. They had been waiting for the outcome of this case before making their final decision.
The league’s only comment so far the statement "The Football League has noted the outcome of the Court hearing earlier today regarding Massimo Cellino. We are engaged in an ongoing dialogue with his legal representatives in this country and cannot comment further at this time.” Which doesn’t rule out the possibility of approving his takeover, but it’s highly unlikely they will do so.
So where do we go from here? We all know that if Cellino is prevented from buying a stake in the club it will drop us deep into financial trouble, as the Italian has already put an estimated £6 million into the club and will want his money back, at a time when we are also losing around £1 million a month.
Despite David Haigh’s assurance last week that there was no chance of Leeds going into administration, this must now be a possibility, and this would trigger a deduction of ten points which would leave us just above the relegation zone. The only remaining White Kinghts who could ride to our rescue would appear to be the Farnan group, who seem to be still interested in buying a stake in the club.
Farnan has always claimed to have the backing of some major companies, and we could well be very close to the time when we find out whether or not he can come up with the cash.