'You played it very badly' - Fans send furious message to former Leeds United owner as protests planned
The former Leeds United owner is making few friends away from West Yorkshire.
Brescia Calcio fans have launched a scathing attack on their owner Massimo Cellino with plans to protest against the former Leeds United chief this weekend.
Cellino became majority shareholder of the Italian outfit after selling Leeds to Andrea Radrizzani in 2017, but after overseeing promotion to Serie A, things have gone downhill and Brescia are currently mid-table in Serie B. The 68-year-old was not afraid to sack managers during his time in West Yorkshire and has seemingly not changed, with Rolando Maran out the door last month.
Brescia fans have become increasingly disillusioned with their club and the man in charge, with supporter group Curva Nord Brescia planning a major protest before their side host Carrarese on Sunday. And they have quite humorously decided to play on Cellino’s unusual fear of the number 17, with fans set to remain outside the stadium until entering in the 17th minute.
“We found ourselves relegated two years ago and, to date, we are two points above the play-off zone,” a statement from the fan group read (via Sport Witness). “Don’t you wonder why the fans don’t come to the stadium? One should, at times, be self-critical about one’s actions. We know we don’t have a competitive team for promotion.
“Only one person claimed to have it: it was you. But it is much easier to always blame someone else. Good people turn away because they are tired of seeing players without grit. You can lose, but it is unacceptable not to have that healthy competitive rage and not to give your soul, as you may have glimpsed in the first league games.
“People also run away because of broken promises, lack of clarity and lack of expectations. You have understood very little about us Brescians in these years – the conclusion – we never give up. Don’t cling to excuses if you want to run away, like at Cagliari and Leeds. Your last call, you played it very badly.”
Cellino spent three years as Leeds owner, a rollercoaster period which was perfectly summed up by the sacking of Brian McDermott, who left the club on Friday only to be reinstated come Monday. The Italian owner would later blame the chaotic weekend on his poor English, claiming he asked for a purple couch to be removed.
"I was a mess when I got there. My English was very poor. My pronunciation was terrible,” Cellino told the Daily Mail last year. "When I got there, there was a velvet bloody couch in the suite at Elland Road. It was purple. I said, 'Change the bloody couch, I don’t want to see it anymore'. And then they fired the bloody coach!
"They said, 'Who is taking the team tomorrow?' I said, 'Why? We don’t have a manager?'. They said, 'You fired him'. 'I fired the manager? S***'. It was 10 at night and there were 2,000 people at the stadium who wanted to kill me. They hid me in the stadium and then took me out in a police car. They said, 'It is better if you don’t go to the game tomorrow'... Bloody purple!"