Thursday, 10th April, 2014
Massimo Cellino has been accused of neglecting Cagliari in favour of Leeds United by the Italian club's former goalkeeper Mario Ielpo.
Cellino recently completed a long-running takeover of Leeds, purchasing 75 per cent of the Yorkshire giants, despite the English Football League moving to disqualify him from doing so after deeming him to have failed its owners' and directors' test.
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The Italian won an appeal and is now restructuring his team at Elland Road, with Cellino himself set to be installed as president.
He did respond to Cagliari's weekend defeat to Roma by sacking coach Diego Lopez, but the team are just seven points clear of the Serie A relegation spots.
And his attention, or alleged lack of attention, towards Cagliari, has earned him a stinging rebuke from Ielpo, who does not see Leeds as a bigger club than the Rossoblu.
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Ielpo told Tutto Mercato: "It is a really hard time, there is so much confusion. The team are now likely to fall into the fight against relegation."
With Cagliari also having issues with their Stadio Sant'Elia home, which badly needs renovation, Ielpo bemoaned: "There's the stadium, the president seems more interested in Leeds than Cagliari, changes the coach every two days. The situation is really bad for a team as important to Sardinia as this."
The former goalkeeper also hit back at Cagliari having been compared to a FIAT 500.
"It all depends on Cellino", Ielpo explained.
"I do not see the difference between Leeds and Cagliari.
"He can make the team a Ferrari, it's not likely to now be even a good 500 if they continue to lose."
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