February 26 – The takeover of Leeds United by controversial Italian agricultural entrepreneur Massimo Cellino has still not been approved by the relevant authorities, it has emerged. The Football League has said it “remains in discussions” with the club even though the 57-year-old Italian businessman exchanged contracts with current owners GFH to buy a 75% stake in the Championship club earlier this month.
The Cellino family have been involved with Serie A Cagliari since 1992 and plan to invest “substantially” in Leeds. But supporters groups have expressed their concern over the takeover as Cellino has a criminal conviction for fraud in his homeland.
Whether Cellino fulfils the “fit and proper persons” criteria for taking over at the iconic club should become clearer when the Football League’s board receives an update at their next meeting, scheduled for March 13.
A Football League statement said it remained “in discussions with both the owners and proposed purchasers of Leeds United, regarding the planned change of ownership”.
It added: “To date, a significant amount of the requested information has been supplied by GFH and [Cellino’s company] Eleonora Sport, but there are still a number of outstanding matters that will require further submissions from the two parties.
“The board of the Football League is next scheduled to meet on March 13 where it will receive an update on the matter from the League’s executive, unless all the remaining issues can be resolved satisfactorily in advance of this date.”
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