Ross McCormack HITS BACK at Massimo Cellino over Leeds United's summer of chaos
ROSS McCORMACK has broken his silence on his departure from Leeds in a withering attack on club owner Massimo Cellino in which he accuses the Italian of turning the famous Yorkshire club into a "morgue".
By: Matthew Dunn Fri, September 5, 2014
Ross McCormack has scored one goal in six Fulham appearances since transferring from Leeds.
So far, McCormack has refused to respond in detail to allegations thrown in his direction following his £11m transfer to Fulham earlier in the summer.
However, while Leeds continue to deal with the chaos of yet another managerial sacking - Dave Hockaday the victim this time - their former captain has finally spoken out against Cellino's running of the club in a bid to set the record straight.
Specifically, Cellino accused McCormack of engineering a move by crying off sick from the start of pre-season and failing to board a plane to the club's pre-season tour of Italy. McCormack's version is markedly different.
"It's pretty easy to respond to because it's just pure facts," the striker said. "I came in on the Thursday and was told not to train by the club because they were talking to Fulham.
"They didn't want me injured with the size of the fee - it was important to the club that they didn't miss out on that.
"I didn't train on the Thursday or Friday. We were off Saturday and Sunday. Monday was the day the fee was agreed.
"Leeds were going to Italy for pre-season, so I was actually down here doing my medical." Was it a case of the owner smelling the cash and getting shot of his prized asset?
"There you go," McCormack agreed pointedly. "He named his price and he got it. It's sad because that was somewhere I honestly thought I was going to finish my career. I had a house there and was more than happy to retire there. A few weeks later I was gone."
McCormack insists he was happy to see out his career at Leeds before Massimo Cellino took over.
I had four years left on my contract at Leeds. Fulham had to pay a premium
Ross McCormack
That said, things had soured since the moment Cellino walked through the door at Elland Road. The subsequent manner of his own departure was no surprise to McCormack, the club captain and man voted Fans' Player of the Year only in May.
"It's just the way that it was always going to be," he said. "It was never going to be, 'Thanks for what you did last season'. It was pretty nasty in the end.
"The fans didn't want me to go. At the time I didn't want to go. There were a lot of changes that I can't go into at the club. I wasn't the only player at the time that didn't really like what was going on.
"The only difference at the time was that I was probably the only one who had a voice and who said what he felt. The club didn't take too kindly to that. But I felt hurt.
"The conversations came out that the club didn't want me to leave. In fact, Cellino said you can leave but it's got to come across as you are initiating it.
"So there was a transfer request put in all for the benefit of the club, so they could come across in a good light to the fans.
"Unfortunately at the time the fans probably took sides with the owner. After a few things have come to light maybe they are turning a little bit."
Rumours of those "few things" are startling.
Over the summer, Cellino closed the canteen and made the players bring in their own packed lunches. The laundry was closed and the staff all sacked, so the kit man had to take the dirty shirts home with him.
All true? "Yes - that's just fact," McCormack continued. "We came back and the canteen was closed - the kitchen staff had been sacked. The laundry room was closed - the laundry staff had been sacked.
"For me, when I went there the academy was a massive thing. When we came back in the summer it was like a morgue. There was no-one there. No friendly faces around. It's not a nice place to be at the moment." McCormack's escape came at a well-advertised £11m price.
"Everyone knows the price that Fulham paid, but that's nothing to do with me," he said.
"What you've got to remember is that I had four years left on my contract at Leeds. Fulham had to pay a premium to get me out of that."
A disrupted pre-season contributed to McCormack's failure to score in his first five league games as hotly-tipped promotion contenders Fulham have sunk to second-bottom with just a point to their name.
At least those problems are ones the players at Craven Cottage feel they can deal with.
"The pressures at this club are the pressures we put on ourselves," said McCormack. "We set high standards. There are fine systems in place and everything so you need to be sharp about the place every day.
"We've got a lot of good players. And the problems here are the problems we can take care of ourselves. The problems at Leeds were all from above."
