Championship Chat: Owner hurting Leeds
The Sky Bet Championship is often overlooked for the glamour and glitz of the Premier League, but there’s much to be celebrated in the second tier as we find out in this weekly Thursday column.
The race for promotion, and the bid to stay in the second tier, is likely to be as competitive as ever, as we examine all the key talking points from the weekend, and also take a look at what’s to come in the matches ahead.
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The Championship is starting to build up a really unsavoury reputation this season, with Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino at the forefront of everything in the league at the moment.
Cellino’s managerial selections have been poor, instinctive and, on occasions, bizarre.
David Hockaday, for example, was apparently appointed after a single meeting with the Italian in London, but this only uncovers a fraction of carnage that he has been responsible for.
With a record of 36 coaches in 22 years during his time as Cagliari owner, the Leeds fans and, more importantly, the Football League knew what they were getting when they gave the Italian their approval after he initially failed the ‘fit and proper test’.
Despite all the warning signs, Cellino has appeased and even endeared himself to supporters with a no-nonsense, Rock ‘n’ Roll approach to owning a football club, along with shows of solidarity with the fans, like watching matches from the terraces.
But this doesn’t even begin paper over the cracks that have opened into chasms since the start of his reign, and his involvement in the day-to-day running of the club has rid it of any stability that was clawed back after plenty of turbulent and uncertain years.
While staffing appointments of Benito Carbone and Gianluca Festa went some way to undermining the respective managers in charge, Cellino looked to overhaul the club’s academy which has been so successful in recent years.
However, once again, Cellino has been at his most destructive when he’s wielding the axe.
Like Hockaday, Darko Milanic lasted six games in charge of Leeds, barely enough time to get through to the players what style of football you’re looking to play or settle into the role.
Milanic clearly was facing a huge battle off the field, let alone a tough run-in that saw Leeds take part in two Yorkshire derbies as well as playing in form Reading, Norwich and Wolves, but it would be pointless putting forward a logical argument to Cellino who demands perfect results, instantly.
And to further the claim that Leeds is in a state of distress, Milanic revealed on Monday that he hadn’t officially been sacked from his position as Leeds boss.
The whole situation makes a mockery of one of the great historic powerhouses of English football.
Fans favourite Neil Redfearn looks set to be announced as the new Leeds boss but, after an excellent spell in charge of the Yorkshire club earlier in the season, why was he deposed off in the first place?
Cellino has switched his preference of coaches after each sacking, moving from a British coach to a foreign coach, with the Italian now setting his sights back on Redfearn.
It seems painfully obvious to anyone that Cellino’s involvement is suffocating Leeds, and his decision making is having a terrible impact on the club.
Returning to Redfearn is a popular choice with the supporters – the new manager is loyal to the cause having followed the team as a child – but this isn’t going to be enough for the fans who will see their beloved club becoming a laughing stock.
Without support and understanding from the owner, Redfearn will not last the season.
Cellino must remove himself from the day-to-day running or his interference could completely tarnish the name of club and make the manager’s job toxic for any future candidates.
If Redfearn does get given the job he will likely last longer than six games, thanks to his good record when he took the role as caretaker, but he probably won’t last the season.
And as for the future of Leeds, well that looks increasingly more uncertain as Cellino continues to take centre stage.
Other clubs in crisis
Elsewhere in the Championship soap opera, the heads of Birmingham and Blackpool have been playing strong supporting roles to Cellino.
At the seaside, Blackpool have been playing out their own series of dramas well before the season began, with the Tangerines beginning pre-season with a threadbare squad, followed by long-running clashes between the club’s chairman Karl Oyston and head coach Jose Riga.
This week, Oyston got his wish as Riga was sacked from the club, with the chairman explaining: “I don’t think our club was the right structure for him, I think he’s used to a different role and we are used to a different type of manager.
“It wasn’t a good fit, anything which isn’t working, it’s better to change.”
Riga’s position at the club was an unenviable one, inheriting a squad lacking in quality and numbers he’s had to rebuild the side without the support of Oyston, who is rightly under pressure by the club’s supporters.
The Blackpool chairman has selected Lee Clark as the man to pull the side out of the mire, but Oyston may well have left it too late.
Clark will need substantial financial backing to get the Tangerines out of their current position which sees them five points adrift at the bottom of the table, but if that decision is made Oyston will be questioned for not backing Riga when he was in charge. And if it isn’t made, Blackpool certainly look set for the drop.
Clark’s former club, Birmingham, have an equally impossible task.
Following on from the debacle of Carson Yeung’s ownership the club has continued to struggle under the club’s directors who have refused to take the blame for City’s demise, but instead decided Clark wasn’t the right man for the job not the fact that they had been inadequately funding the side for a number of years.
The immediate result was embarrassing with Birmingham getting hammered 8-0 by Bournemouth on Saturday, and new man Gary Rowett has a massive task on his hands.
Rowett is an exciting young manager who has turned Burton into a genuine contender for the League Two title, but with Birmingham he will be scrapping for survival, and the time to acclimatise will be minimal.
What’s to come…
Live on Sky: Norwich v Bolton (Sky Sports 1, Friday October 31 7.45pm kick-off)
Wolves v Birmingham (Sky Sports 1, Saturday November 1 12.15pm kick-off)
Bournemouth v Brighton (Sky Sports 1, Saturday November 1 5.30pm kick-off)
By James Dixon, follow me on Twitter here.