I’m a former owner who sacked ex-Arsenal star by accident, I asked to change the couch and the board misheard me
FORMER Leeds owner Massimo Cellino has recalled the time he accidentally sacked Brian McDermott following a miscommunication.
Cellino, 67, took over at Elland Road in January 2014 and immediately made his presence known.
PA:Empics SportMassimo Cellino sacked ex-Leeds boss Brian McDermott by accident in 2014[/caption]
PA:Empics SportMcDermott had been Leeds manager for under a year[/caption]
Just shortly after arriving the Italian sacked then-manager McDermott, who previously played for Arsenal, by accident – all because he didn’t like the colour of a couch.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Cellino said: “I was a mess when I got there.
“My English was very poor. My pronunciation was terrible. 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!”
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McDermott’s assistant, Nigel Gibbs, went on to take over as caretaker manager and oversaw a 5-1 win against Huddersfield Town.
Cellino added: “Sometimes the big mistake becomes the best thing you do. That’s bloody football.”
Despite his initial success, Gibbs was sacked by the owner just four months later.
Cellino eventually sold his shares in Leeds to Andrea Radrizzani in 2017 and returned to Italy to buy Serie B side Brescia.
