Leeds fans to meet with Cellino over fixture disruption

Leeds United supporters groups will meet with Massimo Cellino at Elland Road tomorrow to discuss a response to the flurry of changes to the club’s Championship fixture list.
Leeds fans at FulhamLeeds fans at Fulham
Leeds fans at Fulham

Leeds Fans United - the body pushing for supporter investment in Leeds - will host a forum organised by Cellino in the wake of his aborted decision to cut the club’s ticket allocations for away matches.

Cellino angered United’s support a fortnight ago when he announced that tickets for individual away games would be limited to 2,000 in protest against the numbers of televised games and fixture changes imposed on Leeds this season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

United are scheduled to feature in live broadcasts 10 times before the turn of the year and tonight’s clash with Blackburn Rovers at Elland Road will be shown on Sky Sports after being moved to a Thursday from its original Saturday date.

Cellino claimed Leeds were losing matchday revenue as a result of rearrangements at home and said a reduction in the cash earned by opposition clubs from United’s large away following would force Sky and the Football League to listen to his complaints.

He backed down in the face of fierce criticism last week, however, and withdrew his 2,000 limit.

Leeds Fans United were involved in that u-turn after its chief executive, Dylan Thwaites, met with Cellino at Elland Road.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Cellino - currently facing disqualification as owner of Leeds by the Football League - is due to attend tomorrow's meeting as he and the supporters consider ways of fighting the rearrangements and disruption.

Representatives of the Leeds United Supporters Trust will also be present.

Leeds Fans United have also been in dialogue with Cellino about the possibility of purchasing shares in Leeds and securing supporter representation on the club’s board of directors.

The group was formed earlier this year and raised close to £500,000 in its first few months of existence.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Thwaites said: “We see this is a matter for all supporters and while we will facilitate this joint approach, we aim to appoint someone from within the wider group to lead this moving forward so that we can continue to focus on our discussions with Mr Cellino about ownership.

“That person will be responsible for collating all the feedback and working on what happens next.

“This meeting will be a starting point to talk about the problems we all face so that whatever the next stage is, it’s taken with as much knowledge and input from the fans as possible.”