Put up or shut up - Cellino's strategy must start now

As another season of mediocrity comes to a close, Leeds fans cannot be blamed for looking forward to the summer that should hopefully see wholesale changed to the club from top to bottom.  With Cellino promising great things and a return to the standard of football we have come to hope for rather than expect, it cannot be disputed that these hugely important changes are needed with a degree of haste. With this in mind, we at @LUFC_Calypso feel that it is time for Cellino to nail his colours to the mast, making the changes that we need whilst maintaining complete transparency, the major criticism levelled at GFH Capital throughout their turbulent tenure at the top of the LUFC hierarchy.

First and foremost, the long term future of the manager must be sorted. Offering subtle hints with minimal stature in support of McDermott offers anything but transparency, and these cryptic clues hardly assure the fans that Cellino has a coherent strategy in place ready to implement immediately. With fans still seemingly divided on McDermott, one thing that all fans will agree on is that Cellino must either back him or sack him. McDermott must either be given the level of finance to fund moves for players of a similar ilk those joining in January (ie Jack Butland and Connor Wickham), or this privilege must be given to the man considered the long term leader of our promotion push. Whether Cellino feels McDermott has got what it takes to bring this club back to the big time remains to be seen, but the on-field strategy must be based around a stable managerial selection.

Next, Cellino’s lofty ambitions to buy back the stadium. Cellino has got his work cut out to sort the financial turmoil that the club has been plunged into by David Haigh and his cronies, and buying back the stadium may be one way to do so. Loan payments are sending our finances into a spiral of financial disorder, and it goes without saying that this must be sorted as quickly as possible. In terms of future strategy, we cannot continue to be dragged through the mud and barely making ends meet. Our wage will this season is the 4^th largest in the division, and the largest of those not receiving parachute payments of some kind, and for a club sitting in 16^th this is absolute madness. Supposed reports of Noel Hunt’s £25k a week salary outed this season really highlight the strategy that Cellino’s United should avoid at all costs. True or otherwise, I’m sure that he will.

Finally, the current crop of underachievers needs tearing limb from limb. Despite improved form in recent weeks, this pleasant surprise doesn’t even remotely make up for months of poor performances and results alike. With a whole host of players out of contract in the next 12 months, United fans en masse are hoping that Cellino’s intentions to dismantle this group beyond recognition is put into practice. On this subject, it goes without saying that the major success story of this frustrating campaign has been our talisman Ross McCormack, and with fresh interest in our star striker almost inevitable over the summer it is time for Cellino to show his real intentions. Sell our best player this summer and there is nothing to base our promotion aspiring squad around. The situation is crystal clear to me, but I’m less convinced it will be to Massimo Cellino.

For Cellino, it is time to ‘put your money where your mouth is’ and start acting on the methodical strategy that our club so desperately craves. For now, it’s time to sit back and wait for the magic to happen.