Andrea Iore: Leeds United's head of recruitment?

I first wrote about Andrea Iore a year ago - a story that seemed almost too strange to be true.

Perhaps you'll remember it. The Frenchman came onto the radar of the Cellinos when he was working in a furniture shop in Miami. Mrs Cellino came in as a customer and was struck by Andrea's politeness and fluency in several languages.

So she spoke to her husband, who arranged for Andrea to be brought to Leeds United as an intern. The then 23-year-old initially worked in the club shop, before progressing to interpreter for chief scout Nicola Salerno.

Andrea was given a modest wage and put up in a flat in the city.

So far, so good. In fact this could even have been Leeds United's own version of My Fair Lady.

It was less amusing when Andrea started turning up in the boardroom for matches though. And at important meetings. And at the Thorp Arch training ground, where he would sometimes quiz the manager about selection and tactics and voice his own opinions on both (seemingly based on little other than watching games on TV or playing Football Manager).

Soon Andrea gained the nickname 'the spy', because the staff and players at Thorp Arch were convinced he was simply there to relay information back to the owner.

Andrea has crossed my radar a few times since - doing keepy-uppies on the training pitch as the Leeds first team were put through their paces by Uwe Rosler; acting as Souleymane Doukara's interpreter when he appeared before an FA Commission to answer a charge of biting (and was criticised as a witness); appearing on the touchline at Elland Road on matchdays; and sitting in front of the Cellinos as they watched from their box.

Last summer Cellino told me he had just returned from a scouting mission to Portugal - with Andrea.

This all seemed strange, I must admit, although I forgot about the Parisien until a few weeks ago, when a respected agent called to ask if I knew a 'young French lad called Andrea', who he said was acting as the 'head of recruitment' at Leeds United.

Apparently he had been assigned as the point of contact regarding players in and out (and there could be a few of those this summer).

Another agent confirmed this. Now, it could be that Andrea is acting up in this role until the club finds a permanent replacement for Martyn Glover, who departed for Sunderland in January.

Or perhaps he's just fielding calls.

But, still. It augments the image of a club being run on a whim and on a shoestring.

Earlier this week, Lucy Ward spoke about the cleaners being sacked at Thorp Arch last year, causing some of the academy players to get ill.

And we found out she had been doing the players' laundry... and that the person who deals with payroll is effectively also the head of HR.

Now this. Andrea Iore, 24, de facto head of recruitment?

Why people are angry about Cameron's tax affairs

"There are two Britains. The people who have this wealth in Government are telling us there is no alternative but to make swingeing savage cuts across the public sector and on the incomes of the poorest.

"People have a right to know that some of these wealthy people live in a very different world to them.

"It’s clearly questionable when people who have that independent wealth are making political decisions where the poorest are suffering in unimaginable ways.

"Cameron and Osborne do not have a clue what it’s like to struggle to make ends meet, to visit a food bank, to be disabled, to worry about a zero hours contract and not know where your next penny is coming from.

"When they say ‘we’re all in this together,’ the last week has shown we are not all in this together."

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the PCS Union

Steve Thompson: Leeds' loss is Preston's gain

Match-winner Jordan Hugill explained what Steve Thompson has brought to Preston North End since arriving at the club in the summer.

I've always been intrigued, because his arrival at Leeds last season also led to an upturn, before he was suspended and then released.

There still hasn't been an official reason as to why this happened and Thompson is none the wiser.

"We’ve not really changed the squad since we got promoted from League One," Hugill told me.

"The spirit is still the same, everyone loves to come training. We’ve moved up the table as we’ve gone along.

"He’s been really good around the training ground. Sometimes after reserve games I’ll go to him and say what can I do better and he’ll always be honest with me.

"He gets players going. It’s something you need to have at the club and he’s brilliant.

"It’s good to have someone you can do and say what can I improve on? You’re always learning the game, no matter how old you get.

"It’s good to have someone to say ‘do this, don’t look out of place and he’s done that with me.’"

10 things Cellino should have done differently

Even for a club accustomed to pitfalls and calamities, this really does feel like a new low for Leeds United.

Beaten 4-0 at Brighton, with all the goals coming inside 38 minutes; the owner walking out at half time; then apparently instructing the club's staff not to speak to the press.

Pretty disrespectful when 1,500 had travelled hundreds of miles to the south coast on a Monday night.

There is irony in the fact the club is marooned in 17th - Cellino's demon number.

So this seems like a good time to ask where it's all gone wrong. And I think there is only one place you can look, because the owner has turned the club into a reflection of his own fragile, troubled and erratic personality.

He has always been honest about the fact he is a control freak who wants to do everything. The staff has been greatly reduced and only a select few have stayed for the course of his tenure - player liaison man Stix Lockwood and PA Debra Ware among them.

In place of these experienced staff are various hangers on - Terry George, Cellino's son Edoardo and his friends - Andrea (he of the Miami furniture shop) and someone called Kit who looks after the website.

On Twitter, people often counter that it's unfair to blame the Italian, because he inherited a lot of debt, his hands have been tied because of the relationship with GFH: basically that there's not a lot more he could have done.

So here are 10 things he could, and should, have done differently, which wouldn't have cost a penny:

1) Promises:

Someone, somewhere, said that happiness = reality - expectation. This is quite true. But on the April 2014 day that his ban was overturned, and he officially bought Leeds United, he did an interview with me for The Sun (I am grateful) in which he made a series of lavish promises: he would go to the bank that week to buy Elland Road; he would buy the Thorp Arch training ground and the club would be back in the Premier League by 2016/17. Otherwise he would have failed.

These promises were then backdated, until a point when they were just abandoned. He would have been better assessing the situation properly and being honest and realistic with the fans.

2) Sticking with a manager... any manager:

I recently did an interview with Brian McDermott, and he was very measured about Cellino. But he did admit that what stuck in the craw was that the owner sacked him (first time, anyway) before he'd even met him, let alone got to know him.

Perhaps McDermott wasn't pulling up any trees, but he's experienced, has integrity and is now doing well at Reading, who he's taken to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. It's hard to believe that things wouldn't be better at Leeds if he was still there.

He was on a decent salary, but it was the going rate for a strong Championship manager with Premier League experience. And has Cellino actually saved money by sacking him? He had to give him a pay-off and he's then gone through a succession of other managers.

As we know, Darko Milanic (until yesterday) and Uwe Rosler are still on the payroll at the club. None of the six bosses he's had has been given the time to properly implement their methods or philosophy, which brings us onto...

3) Leave the manager alone:

Being a manager under Cellino is like having a crazy, overbearing father who joins you at work every day.

He has pestered all of his managers about players, tactics and training. He's cooked the pre-match meal, he's gone in the dressing room at half time, he's insisted Evans go out for meals with him. It's stifling and counter-productive.

There came a point in Neil Redfearn's tenure, at Christmas 2014, when he decided 'if I'm going to get sacked, I might as well do things my way.'

So he brought in Steve Thompson as assistant, he started to select the team HE and not the owner wanted and he ditched the diamond formation Cellino insisted on. Things went well and there was a point in March when Leeds had the second best record in the Championship for 2015.

But the Italian was 'very, very hurt' that Redfearn wasn't involving him or giving him credit, and he publicly undermined him before failing to renew his contract. Could any manager effectively work under conditions like that, seriously?

4) Executives:

A frustration is that the Italian is capable of identifying talented staff. Matt Child was good and so too Adam Pearson. But he seems incapable of keeping them for any period of time.

Cellino admits one of his failings is that he wants to 'drive the bus', that he finds it almost impossible to delegate. This is having calamitous results. When Child was working in tandem with Redfearn, things looked bright. Ditto with Pearson and Rosler (off the pitch, anyway).

But they went after very short tenures and things, basically, went tits up.

5) Battles:

These are almost too numerable to mention, but here goes: Cellino v Football League, Sky, Graham Bean, Macron, Leeds Fans Utd, his lawyers, Cameron Stewart, Lucy Ward, Neil Redfearn, the fans, GFH.

And, of course, the one common denominator is him. These battles take a lot of time, energy and money. Cameron Stewart's contract was ripped up - and the club ended up having to pay him a season's salary and costs, all without the benefit of having him kick a ball in a Leeds shirt.

The battles also lead to the same conclusion - that other people are being blamed, when the blame actually lies closer to home. As we all know (and it's easier said than done) you need to control the controllables in life.

6: Recruitment:

When Cellino came in, he told me he had a worldwide network of scouts. And his former club, Cagliari, did uncover some gems, like Naingollan and Ibarbo.

But we've seen precious little evidence of that at Leeds. Cellino's first season was marked by a slew of (largely poor) imports from Italy, under the guidance of Nicola Salerno.

At the start of 2015/16, the recruitment policy seemed to be guided more by manager Rosler, and the focus was on players with experience of English football.

But the overall recruitment has been poor, even if the wage bill has been reduced. This is especially dangerous when you're selling very good players, like Ross McCormack and Sam Byram. If you can't adequately replace them, the effect is disastrous.

7: Neil Redfearn (and Lucy Ward):

Opinion seems to be split on Redfearn, which has surprised me. Leeds had their best (in fact only) good spell of form of the Cellino regime when he was in charge.

I think his success was down to the fact that, as former academy boss, he was able to capitalise on the club's third biggest asset (after its fans and history) - the youngsters. And Mowatt, Byram, Cook and Taylor thrived.

His managerial credentials might be unproven, but he understood Leeds and its fans. You lose someone like that at your peril. And to treat him as shabbily as Cellino did (sacking his assistant for no reason, slagging him off, making sure he left via the back door when he should have been cheered out of the front) meant the Italian lost any integrity he had in the eyes of the staff and fans.

Redfearn's partner, Lucy Ward, is currently taking Cellino to an employment tribunal for wrongful dismissal and sexual discrimination. She was also a long-serving member of Leeds staff, praised by former trainees such as Fabian Delph.

8: Sam Byram:

Again, opinion is divided on the full-back. Someone who was senior at the club last season tells me Byram was ready to sign a new contract. And his new manager, Slaven Bilic, says he believes he will become 'a great player.'

So to let his contract wind down to its final year left the club in a weak position in which they got half his true value from West Ham. And, again, for Cellino to slag him off in the press during negotiations, was classless at best.

9: Superstition:

This is perhaps part of human nature. But Cellino takes it to the nth degree and, again, it suggests someone who is failing to look at reality or rationality.

Getting the programmes reprinted to 16b, having the pitch blessed, retiring the 17 shirt: it's not really addressing the key issues at the club.

10: Fans:

Leeds United's biggest asset. Cellino has identified this himself. Yet, really, they've proven another pawn to be toyed with and fought against.

The fans ARE Leeds United. But really, Leeds United is being regarded as an extension of the owner. So we've had the pie tax, mistruths about fixture rearrangements, and then, last night, staff told not to speak to the press after a humiliating defeat.

What really should have happened was the manager coming out and apologising to all those who had traveled hundreds of miles to watch a completely abject display.

Return of the Mac

Brian McDermott says returning to Reading is like “going back to family” after his “bonkers” time at Leeds.

The 54-year-old has returned for a second stint at the Royals.

His tenure at Elland Road ended in farce after he was TWICE sacked by owner Massimo Cellino.

Now McDermott is back among friends — and loving it.

He said: “A lot of pals warned me ‘never go back’, but this feels right and I’m really enjoying it.

“I had a few opportunities to go back into management but they didn’t feel right. This is a bit like going back to family.

“Me and the director of football, Nicky Hammond, go back a long way.

“And I’ve known some of the players since they were kids of 10, 11 years old.

“If we can all pull in the same direction then we can get something alarming going here.”

McDermott first joined Reading as a scout in 2000 and went on to become manager.

He led the Royals back to the Premier League in 2012 before being controversially sacked by Anton Zingarevich in March 2013.

Now the club is under new Thai ownership and McDermott says every- thing is geared up for promotion again.

McDermott added: “The fanbase is there, the stadium is great and we are building a new training centre.

“The owners have good ideas and are ambitious. Everything here is Premier League. We just need to get momentum going by giving the fans something to get behind.”

This optimism contrasts with his final months at Leeds. Cellino fired McDermott in January 2014 — before he had even bought the club or met the manager.

He was reinstated the next day, only to be sacked for good four months later. McDermott said: “It was a bonkers time, no doubt about it.

“I’d never seen anything like that before and hopefully never will again. It was tough, really difficult. What got me was that we didn’t even know each other.

“I think you have to build a relation- ship with someone before you make a judgement on them. I think my track record justified more time.”

He has nothing but praise for the long-suffering Leeds fans. McDermott added: “Until you become a part of that club, you don’t realise how big it is.

“I remember we went to Slovenia in pre-season and were outside this little pub in the middle of nowhere. There must have been 1,200 Leeds fans there and I thought, ‘wow, this is big’.

“I was struck by everything about the place and envy the man who takes them back to the Premier League, because it will be huge.”

After leaving the Yorkshire giants, McDermott became chief scout at Arsenal and says it was an invaluable experience.

He added: “I was travelling to Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Portugal, it was a great job. The organisation there is top drawer and Arsene Wenger is obviously a fantastic football man.

“I learnt a lot from him and even identified a few players who might be useful to us here at Reading.”

This article first appeared in The Sun on January 23rd 2016.

What was Cellino really like at Cagliari?

We know a lot about Massimo Cellino's ownership of Leeds, but I've always been a little hazy about his time at Cagliari.

What are the facts and what is folklore?

Because the past can help us to predict the future, I asked Corriere della Serra's Giuseppe Amisani about Cellino.

Amisani got to know the maverick Italian very well during his two decades at Cagliari, although he emphasises their relationship was one of professional respect, not friendship.

FAMILY:

Amisani: "The family business was founded by the father of Massimo Cellino, who was called Ercole and was from Piedmont. Gradually, the children took over the family business. Massimo - who I call Max - has two brothers, Alberto and Giorgio, and two sisters, Rossana and Lucina.

Rossana is a doctor. The other children participated in various capacities in family activities. With the passage of time, Massimo took over the shares of his brothers and sisters. In June 1992, he decided to buy Cagliari Calcio."

CAGLIARI:

"Cellino was a good owner of Cagliari and was able to enhance the team and find many unknown stars.

With the fans he has always had a relationship of love and hate, depending on the results of the team.

When Cagliari were fine, everyone was happy. When the team was losing, the fans challenged the president.

In his final years as president, his enthusiasm waned and so did his popularity, so he decided to sell everything.

He always tried to be on the side of the fans I would say, choosing to keep the prices of the tickets as low as he could.

He had so many sports directors and many coaches though, this is true. But the arrival of a large number of unknowns as Victor Ibarbo was possible thanks to his intuition.

He is a football expert, so his coaches always compared him to the technical director of the club."

PERSONAL:

"Max married his wife in 1983 after returning from Australia. He went there to get experience and to open a new market for the family business.

Speculation about his personal life? Well, the fans always focused only on the performance of the team. I'd say he was a good president, though perhaps a little eccentric. But he acted for the good of Cagliari.

Sometimes there were excesses and hasty decisions that he took on instinct. But this is Massimo Cellino."

Dodgy Pictures, Lists of Demands & Badly Written Profiles – What *Women* are Doing Wrong Online

This article was first published on the Sweetness and Life blog.

Going back into the dating game after a long relationship feels like being released from captivity.

Suddenly I find myself in a bewildering, mystifying world; one which didn’t even exist when I was last on the ‘outside’.

A world of apps and swiping and chemistry tests and strange selfies.

I’ve been staggering along in the dark, grasping for the light switch, managing to see a little more with each tentative step.

And if I could say one thing to the ladies on these sites it would be this: please relax.

Now, I’ve heard there are a fair few oddballs and nasties on the male side. Men who post naked selfies and close ups of their todgers; men who lie about their age and even identity; men whose best friends are apparently their pets or cars; men who are just after a quick shag (shock news: there are a few women like this too); and, less humorously, men eager to make derogatory comments about someone’s weight or appearance.

But, come on: is this really the rule rather than the exception?

And does it warrant the sea of negativity and even hostility us men have to encounter as soon as we’ve logged on?

Let’s start with the profiles.

I’ve lost count of the number starting with ‘are there any decent men out there any more’, ‘so many weirdos’, ‘anyone normal?’ You get the gist.

That’s hardly a great start to any conversation and it makes you wonder, why the hell are you bothering in the first place? Now, I could be wrong, but I can’t imagine so many men begin their profiles in this way.

Then there are the shopping lists: must be at least 6”2, ripped, funny, strong, kind, sensitive, earn £80k plus, have good grammar and punctuation (often spelling grammar and punctuation incorrectly).

If you post something like that, you’d better sure as hell be perfect yourself.

I know it can be good to know what you want, especially based on the knowledge and experience gleaned from previous relationships – and, as we get older, none of us want to waste time with the wrong person - but whatever happened to spontaneity, open-mindedness and being surprised by the things life can sometimes throw up?

In fact, isn't this what makes life worth living?

Then you get the don'ts: must not be boring, over-confident, a player, clingy etc etc. Followed by the common “if you’re only going to message me ‘hi, how are you,’ I will not reply.” Charming.

So add ‘must have the wit of Stephen Fry’ to that shopping list above (presumably along with, ‘must have the body of Steven Gerrard’).

Because I’ve got something else to tell you ladies – a lot of your profiles aren’t that original or creative either.

Almost every one states you are ‘easy going’, which, sorry, is not number one on the list of traits I associate with the fairer sex.

Other favourites are ‘my kids are my world,’ ‘love a night curled up on the sofa as much as a night out clubbing,’ ‘love going to the gym,’ and ‘I’m only on here to have a look.’

And let’s talk about your profile pictures.

What’s with that weird trout pout, the one where you purse your lips while aiming your chin down to your neck?

I’ve seen lots of other strange choices of profile pic, including wedding photos, photos with kids and, strangest of all, just pictures of kids. Swipe right to that and you might be getting a knock on the door from Operation Yew Tree.

What’s struck me above all is what a callous world this can be.

If you approach a girl in a bar – even if you look like Quasimodo (be kind) – the chances are a witty one liner will still at least elicit a response.

Not so in the world of online dating. If someone doesn’t like the look of you, even a Wildean remark will be met with the cold shoulder.

I’ve done this as well and it feels rude and wrong.

And if you do clear that initial hurdle of initiating a conversation, the shopping list scenario might again present itself.

A true example:

Me: Hi, how are you? (boring, granted)

Them: Fine thanks. Can you tell me: what you want from a relationship; whether you want kids; how you would bring up your kids; what you do in your spare time; what your career aspirations are?

Me: Can I come back to you in a few months while I work this out for myself?

If conversation does continue, you often then go off into the netherworlds of WhatsApp and Snapchat.

Or, for the older among us, texting - or even a real-life conversation.

It’s a wonder you ever get out on that first date… and there’s a whole new article to write about that.