[4] Cellino intended to sell Cagliari and has said that an agreed sale failed due to the wish of the prospective buyers for him to stay and run the club.
[1] On 31 January 2014, it was reported that Brian McDermott had been sacked as manager of the club, with Gianluca Festa speculated in the media as his most likely replacement.
[7] On 1 February, McDermott's Elland Road assistant Nigel Gibbs was named as caretaker manager for the club's home derby against Huddersfield Town.
[8] Following the game, the club released an official statement stating McDermott had not been dismissed and remained first team manager.
[10] After weeks of speculation the club announced, on 7 February 2014, that they had exchanged contracts with Cellino's family consortium Eleonora Sport Ltd.
His appeal was heard on 31 March 2014 by an independent QC and, on 5 April 2014, the decision was overturned as Cellino's recent conviction did not involve conduct that would 'reasonably be considered to be dishonest' based on information available to him at the time.
[1] Cellino later said that had he known that the takeover would not proceed smoothly he would not have bought the club and described the Football League as "...really tricky, they made trouble at a time when I couldn't walk away and I submitted myself to a trial, a humiliation...I don't want to be here if the Football League don’t want me but who are they anyway?...They are acting for what's right, the principles, the ideals.
On 3 August 2014, after joining the club in April 2014 sporting consultant Benito Carbone left his job after his relationship with Cellino deteriorated.
[20][21] After a 4–1 defeat to Watford on 23 August,[22] Cellino had made up his mind to sack head coach Hockaday; however he had a change of heart, deciding to blame himself for the club's poor start to the season.
[21][25] Cellino aimed to repurchase Leeds' Elland Road stadium in 2014, and expected the club to be in the Premier League by the end of the 2015–16 season.
The Football League took the decision after obtaining documents from an Italian court, where he was found guilty of tax evasion.
On 9 April 2015, Leeds United's suspended owner, Cellino, informed the press that he believed Salerno had resigned.
[35] Yorkshire Evening Post reported that the contract offer from Cellino to Byram was actually a reduction on his existing wage.
[38] On 19 October, Uwe Rösler was sacked after two wins from just 12 games in charge, following a 2–1 home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion which left Leeds in 18th place in the Championship.
[43] On 4 November, Cellino announced a dramatic U-turn of his decision to sell the club to Leeds Fans United, and accused the potential buyers of 'fairytales'.
[45] On 29 December, Cellino banned Sky Sports cameras from entering Elland Road to live broadcast Leeds' game against Derby.
[47] On 9 May 2016, Cellino was acquitted 'on appeal' for his tax evasion conviction, after failing to pay VAT on a Range Rover imported from the USA into Italy.
[53][54] In June 2016, ex-Leeds United-women's forward and former Education & Welfare officer Lucy Ward won a high-profile legal battle against her dismissal from the club in 2015.
[55] On 2 June 2016, Garry Monk was appointed the new head coach of Leeds United on a one-year rolling contract, replacing Evans.
[63] Cellino was arrested in February 2013 with the mayor of Quartu Sant'Elena, Mauro Continy, and the public works commissioner Stefano Lilliu, for attempted embezzlement and fraudulent misrepresentation following an investigation into the construction of the Stadio Is Arenas.
Cellino's arrest warrant called him a man of "marked criminal tendencies ... capable of using every kind of deception to achieve his ends".
[64] Cellino has two prior criminal convictions, for deceiving the Italian Ministry of Agriculture out of £7.5 million in 1996 and for false accounting at Cagliari in 2001.
[69] On 3 May 2014, at Leeds United's annual end of season awards, Cellino joined the band The Pigeon Detectives on lead guitar for a cover version of Jimi Hendrix's song "Hey Joe".