Former Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino accidentally sacked his manager – due to his hatred for the colour purple.
The maverick Italian, now running Serie B side Brescia, took over the West Yorkshire club in 2014. He remained owner until 2017, overseeing a wild and chaotic period as expected by the man dubbed the ‘Manager Eater’ due to his appetite for sacking head coaches with first club Cagliari.
But the 67-year-old has now revealed the very first manager he sacked at Leeds – Brian McDermott – was not done intentionally. Cellino stunningly explained to the Daily Mail how it stemmed from him taking issue with a purple couch at Elland Road.
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The Sardinian millionaire’s distrust for the “unlucky” colour saw him demand that club staff binned said couch. But his broken English landed him in a pickle as they thought he meant the head coach, resulting in McDermott’s sacking.
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!”
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He realised he made a huge gaffe when – on the eve of a Championship clash at home against Huddersfield – he was asked who would be managing the team. In a sudden panic, McDermott’s assistant Nigel Gibbs led the team out as caretaker manager in what turned out to be an astonishing 5-1 win.
Yet McDermott was reinstated as boss by the previous owners, who were still in charge as Cellino’s takeover was still awaiting EFL approval. The manager lasted until the end of the season before being sacked – this time for good – by Cellino.
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