Cellino ´humiliated´ by Leeds saga

Massimo Cellino says he has felt “humiliated” during his protracted takeover of Championship club Leeds United.

Cellino’s company Eleonora Sports agreed to purchase a 75 per cent stake in the Yorkshire club from GFH Capital, a Bahrain-based investment bank, last month.

However, the Italian, who has owned Serie A club Cagliari for 22 years, needs to pass the Football League’s ‘fit and proper persons’ test before the takeover can be completed.

The Football League are set to discuss the change of ownership on Thursday, but a decision cannot made until next week due to a charge of non-payment of import duty on a yacht being brought against Cellino in the Italian courts.

Cellino, who was handed a 15-month suspended prison sentence in 2001 for false accounting at Cagliari, denies any wrongdoing.

And, after revealing that he has been bankrolling Leeds for the last two months, Cellino admitted he will walk away if the Football League reject his bid.

“I have been humiliated quite enough so far,” Cellino told The Guardian. “At this point I wonder why I have been treated so badly after paying the salaries and debts over the past two months.

“I will wait until a decision by the League. If I am not accepted, I will go away silently like I came. I am too old to fight wars which are not mine.”

Cellino’s time with Leeds got off to a bizarre start as manager Brian McDermott was reportedly sacked hours after news of the prospective takeover broke on the final day of the January transfer window, only for the club to reinstate the former Reading boss the next day.

Leeds sit 13th in the Championship following a dismal run of five games without a win, with a 5-1 loss to Bolton Wanderers and a 4-2 reverse to Reading in their last two outings seeing them slip into the bottom half of the table.