Massimo Cellino: Football, Finances and Florida

Article by Alex Schroeter

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Reports have been rapidly growing over the last few days that current Cagliari Calcio President, Massimo Cellino, has all but secured a deal to buy a 75% stake in Leeds United. Sources in Italy, however, are suggesting that the deal is in fact already complete. Like me, you may not have heard too much about the 57 year old Sardinian entrepreneur and it has become clear over the past few days that he is quite a character.

Cellino is considered by many to be one of the greatest characters in Italian football, despite living in Miami. However, he does not let this get in the way as he is prone entertaining, yet bewildering, public statements – easily rivalling those of Napoli president, Aurelio de Laurentiis. In the opening of the Is Arenas he played the guitar and sung, as he is also part of a band when he’s not lighting up the back pages with his antics. Before last season’s home game against Roma, he encouraged the Cagliari fans to go to the stadium, even though it was meant to be a behind closed doors fixture. This, in turn, sent the Sardinian police into panic about the prospect of thousands of unexpected football fans descending upon the district of Sant’Elia.

Last year, he even spent several days behind bars in Sardinia, accused of fraud for the construction of Cagliari’s Is Arenas stadium, which had to be taken down due to not having the requisite permits.

Even though Cellino has grabbed a lot of headlines, he has done an awful lot for Cagliari as he has an undeniable passion for football, despite the fact that he has worked his way through 20 managers in 18 seasons. He took them, as a small Italian club and has managed to achieve numerous mid-table finishes in Serie A, with only a couple of relegations, in addition to a UEFA Cup semi-final and a couple of Coppa Italia semi-finals.

This would not be the first time Cellino has tried to invest or buy in English football, as there has been a failed attempt to buy West Ham United in 2010, as well as registering interest in buying either Crystal Palace or QPR, both later on in 2010. Both of the latter attempts never came to fruition and he remained with Cagliari.

With the purchase of Leeds United, questions will be raised about his Presidency of Cagliari, as he has already expressed his frustration with the situation involving their stadium on a number of occasions. One or two reports suggest that he is already looking to sell the Sardinian club with his attention now focused on West Yorkshire. Rumours have arisen of him targeting Brazilian international goalkeeper Julio Cesar already, while approaching recently sacked AC Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri about becoming the manager of Leeds, a chance which he apparently rejected. Either way, I would enjoy such a character and someone with a great interest in football to be at the helm, hopefully funding our return to where we belong.

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