March 19 – The takeover of iconic English club Leeds United by controversial Italian entrepreneur Massimo Cellino has still not been approved with fans now braced for a period of uncertainty.
Cellino, who is also president of Cagliari in the Italian league, has been waiting for English authorities to rubber-stamp his plans to move into Leeds after his company Eleonora Sports agreed a deal to buy 75% of the club’s shares at the beginning of February.
But the Italian’s bid to take control has hit the buffers after he was fined €600,000 for tax evasion in a Cagliari court and had his luxury yacht confiscated. Cellino’s lawyer immediately announced the Miami-based businessman planned to appeal against the court’s ruling. He denies he was seeking to evade import duty on the yacht.
The Football League’s so-called ‘owners and directors’ test prevents anyone with an “unspent” conviction for dishonesty offences from being a director, a 30% owner, or from exercising control over any of its clubs.
Cellino already has two previous convictions but Leeds managing director David Haigh insisted last week that there was “no chance” of the club going into administration since, bizarrely, it is Cellino’s money that has been keeping the club going.
Cellino has covered the club’s staff wage bill for the last two months and the burning question now is what happens if his takeover of Leeds, a once all-conquering power now locked in mediocrity in the second-tier English championship, is turned down.
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