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Leeds United owner and convicted fraudster Massimo Cellino has started the week by sacking manager Uwe Rossler after just 12 games in charge. In fairness, that isn’t a particularly noteworthy event: Cellino has now sacked five managers during his 18 month ownership of the Championship club.
What is of note, however, is the fact that Cellino has appointed Steve Evans as the German’s replacement. You see, like Cellino, Evans has a conviction for tax fraud. In 2006, the Scot was given a 12-month suspended sentence for disguising player wages and bonuses (taxable) as expenses (tax deductible) over a five-year period whilst manager of Boston United, leading the team to promotion with a squad of players that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford.
It’s not quite as glamorous as Cellino’s failure to pay import duty on a luxury yacht, but it’s tax evasion nevertheless.
Massimo Cellino (@realsport101 | Twitter)
All of which means a convicted fraudster has just appointed a convicted fraudster as manager of a professional football club. It's fair to say Leeds fans aren't exactly delighted with the move.
But two crumbs of comfort for anyone who thinks tax-evading fraudsters running football clubs may not be in the best interests of the game:
1. Given the five previous Leeds managers to work under Cellino have averaged just 13 games in charge, it is unlikely Evans will be around for long.
2. Given Cellino himself has just been banned by the League Association for a second time in 12 months for being unfit to run the club, the Italian might not be around for long either.
It’s a sad state of affairs for a club that, as recently as 2001, reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.
