Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino pulls the plug on fans buying club

In a shocking turn of events at Elland Road, Leeds United’s controversial owner Massimo Cellino has revealed he no longer plans to sell the club to its supporters.

Less than a week ago, Cellino told Leeds Fans Utd (LFU) that they can buy his controlling interest in the club, even though he wouldn’t make any profit from the transaction.

On Wednesday, the supporters group were expecting to gain an exclusivity deal from Cellino’s lawyers to buy his majority stake in the club for £30m.

However, LFU have now confirmed that the Italian businessman has decided to pull the plug on the deal, and it is believed that Cellino is only interested in selling a minority stake to the supporters group.

In a statement, LFU said: “Leeds Fans Utd has just been informed by the lawyers of Massimo Cellino that he no longer wishes to sell to Leeds fans.

“Our insistence on him confirming his verbal offer of exclusivity in a legally binding agreement has forced transparency on his motives. We hope that Massimo will treat the club and fans with respect and honour.

“It is much better that we identify this insincerity now before we spend our shareholders’ money. This exercise has proved our capacity to adapt to any acquisition scenario very quickly.

“We now know we have the capacity to do both a minority and majority deal, and it has shown that Leeds fans have a desire for fan ownership. We hope that Massimo will treat the club and fans with respect and honour.”

Since taking over Leeds 18-months ago, Cellino has dismissed a total of five managers and received two suspensions by the Football League within a year.

For his most recent ban, Cellino filed an appeal against the Football League’s decision last week, but if he is unsuccessful, Cellino will likely be prohibited to have any role as an owner or director of the Leeds United until June 2016, 12 months after the date of his conviction.

On Tuesday night, Leeds secured their first home win since March, beating Cardiff City 1-0 at Elland Road.

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