Cellino

Massimo Cellino makes Lucy a Ward of court

Garbage. Rubbish. Detritus. Things that are thrown to the wayside and forgotten about. Objects that possess an ephemeral and time-limited quality. One set of things not fitting any of these definitions are the current legal wrangles floating around Elland Road, causing newspapers to go into a frenzy. One high profile case is that brought by former club employee Lucy Ward.

Lucy Ward had been employed in an education and welfare role at Leeds United for a considerable time, 17 years to be precise. The Daily Mail, in their report, stress that Leeds owner Massimo Cellino, “thought highly of Ward, who took on extra responsibilities at the Thorp Arch training ground following major job cuts.” Howeverr, this respect was more of the ‘nodding’ variety when she was sacked over the summer by the club in what the Mail say was down to Cellino himself who “instructed Pearson to find a way to get the manager and his partner out of Elland Road.” Ostensibly fired from the club for ‘gross misconduct’ after taking too much time off from her Leeds United duties to commentate on the Women’s World Cup in Canada, Lucy Ward has opened up a twin unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination claim against Leeds United. Ward says that she received permission from her line manager at Leeds United, Adam Underwood, and this will no doubt form the nub of her case in an employment tribunal that will no doubt further damage Leeds United’s name and which is due before the end of the year, according to a report in The Independent.

CellinoWard was highly-respected by young players at the club, players who she helped through their formative years at Elland Road, players such as James Milner, Fabian Delph and current player Lewis Cook. The Independent say that the “employment tribunal’s court papers suggest she was sacked solely because she happened to be the long-term partner of [Neil] Redfearn,” who was Leeds manager at the time and who was sacked on the same day as her. Childishness? A fit of pique? A maverick wielding his pettiness as a rod? Who knows, but firing employees seems to be an occupational normality for a man such as Massimo Celino , a man known as ‘il mangia allenatori’ or ‘the manager eater’.

Then there’s the managers that Cellino has ‘consumed’, five in the 18 months that he has had the reins of Leeds United grasped ever-so-tightly in his hands. It is a veritable list, one name drifting into the next: Brian McDermott segues into David Hockaday, Hockaday melts into Darko Milanic, Milanic shifts into Neil Redfearn and Redfearn himself stutters into Uwe Rosler, with the latter being the last crumb that Cellino has eaten. All of them cast by the wayside, thrown to one side as natural wastage – damaged watermelons if you please. Whilst their contracts may have been terminated, their pay severed, you can bet that severance payments will still need to be negotiated. The Independent said earlier this week that Massimo Cellino, “is thought to be the only owner in British professional football to be paying, or paying off, four managers concurrently (Evans, Redfearn, Uwe Rosler – dismissed last week – and Darko Milanic.)”

That’s just the managers…sorry ‘head coaches’ in Cellino’s parlance, there are other members of staff too who have felt the wrath of Cellino, a host of reasons given. Fitness coach Matt Pears is seeking damages after he was sacked from his post for deigning to go to his brother’s wedding on the same day as Leeds played Everton in August – with permission for his leave granted by the club. Player liason officer and academy staff member Steve Holmes was dismissed after the Dundee United friendly of two pre-seasons ago, his alleged ‘offence’ was that there was an absence of ball boys for the game – Holmes was told to remain away from the club for a month, then dismissed. Then there’s one-time assistant head coach Nigel Gibbs who is due to go to court in January 2016 to secure adequate compensation for his dismissal from Elland Road in 2014. I suppose you could add to this names like Steve Thompson and likely a few more who have a grievance against Massimo Cellino and his riding roughshod over UK employment law.

The running joke is that Leeds United have so many ex-employees on ‘gardening leave’ that the club could enter a tableau in the Chelsea Flower Show and walk away with a certified gold medal for their efforts. The seriousness of the matter regarding ex-employees and court cases isn’t something to be scoffed at; every single instance mounts up and becomes yet another canker that paints Elland Road a ssomething of a godforsaken place in the eyes of many observers from outside of the club, plus a fair few from the inside too.

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