April 20 – Iconic English club Leeds United, back in the news for all the wrong reasons, insist that six players who suddenly withdrew ahead of Saturday’s defeat at Charlton were injured.
Mirco Antenucci, Edgar Cani, Giuseppe Bellusci, Marco Silvestri, Dario Del Fabro and Souleymane Doukara all pulled out, prompting calls for the troubled club, one of the great names of English football but struggling to rekindle past glories, to get rid of them all.
“The club completely stands by the internal medical recommendations it receives,” Leeds said in a statement. “It was declared that the six players were unavailable to travel to London on Friday, the club needs to protect its assets.”
Leeds manager Neil Redfearn said their absence was a “freakish set of events” but with five of the six signed by banned club president Massimo Cellino and Leeds plummeting down the second tier of English football, there was an immediate backlash.
Former Leeds captain Trevor Cherry told BBc radio: “I would sack them. I don’t think players can do that, it’s scandalous and it’s just another story for Leeds United that is disgraceful. It might be one or two of them have got a good excuse, but it sounds too stupid to be true.”
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