another crazy year at United

United owner Gulf Finance House refuses to add Ashley Barnes to the squad, deeming him a worse player than Luke Varney. The deals pay off as Leeds are beaten 6 0 at Sheffield Wednesday the following weekend.

GFH toy with the idea of sacking McDermott but are more concerned about selling the club. Another defeat to Leicester City follows (watched by a certain Massimo Cellino) and within days, the members of the Sport Capital consortium lose patience with each other.

His attempt to place Gianluca Festa on the bench for a 1 1 draw at home to Ipswich is as warmly received by McDermott as Festa's impromptu appearances at Thorp Arch. But on January 31, Cellino agrees a 75 per cent buy out and takes the club under Wholesale Sunglasses his wing.

McDermott is sacked, acting chief executive Paul Hunt is sacked and club captain Ross McCormack the subject of a bid from Cardiff is refused an audience with Cellino after driving to Elland Road to ask what is going on. The Italian is rather more spooked by the fans who show up at the stadium to point out the error of his ways; or, as Cellino puts it, "kick my ae" and chase his taxi around the ground. Nigel Gibbs and Neil Redfearn take charge of the squad and United annihilate Huddersfield Town 5 1.

Talks aimed at re instating McDermott are in progress and he sweeps back into Thorp Arch 48 hours later for a packed, 53 minute press conference. Nonetheless, Cellino and GFH sign off his takeover on February 7, meaning the club will be his if the Football League approves him. Leeds need his money. No one is paying any bills and Enterprise Insurance, the club's shirt sponsor, serve United with a winding up petition over a loan of 1.5m.

On the footballing side, poor old Andrea Tabanelli spends a week in England, only to find that his loan from Cagliari on transfer deadline day a Cellino signing wasn't registered properly. He and McDermott are talking but McDermott suspects his time is up. On March 18, however, Cellino is convicted of tax evasion by a court in Cagliari. The Football League checks its Owners and Directors Test and decides to block the 57 year old's takeover. Cellino immediately appeals.

United are up the creek financially and those at the top start passing the buck. The installation of a 3G artificial pitch at Thorp Arch grinds to a halt as the money dries up and worse still, staff and player wages go unpaid as Cellino refuses to fund a club he might not be able to buy. As a 'source' tells the Daily Mail: "GFH are refusing to put in any more money and Cellino has told them to off."Crucial moments as Cellino's appeal is heard. A date is set for announcing the verdict Friday, April 4 at 5pm but the Football League decides that 3pm on Saturday might be better, 45 minutes after the end of Leeds' 1 0 defeat at Wigan.

When the verdict comes, Cellino wins. In a statement the League says this was "never about individual personalities" and qualifies that by suggesting it will revisit Cellino's fit http://www.buyreplicaoakleys.com/ and proper status at a later date.

Cellino gets to work quickly, paying off an overdue tax bill and settling a few scores. David Haigh, Leeds' managing director (or "the devil" as Cellino calls him), resigns in the knowledge that his relationship with the Italian is cooked. Before long, the two sides are making allegations about spy cameras in the boardroom and the use of class A drugs at Elland Road.

McDermott waits for a no holds barred meeting with Cellino which never comes and mentally, United's boss is already packing his bags. Cellino officially buys Leeds on April 7 and United www.cheapsunglasseswholesale.us.com take a pasting at Watford the following night. Leeds finish 15th in the table. He and Cellino both attend the end of season awards ceremony but barely speak.

Soon after, United's training ground at Thorp Arch is closed for the summer and a huge redundancy process starts at Elland Road. Club secretary Ali Royston is suspended over nobody is quite sure what (she's back at Thorp Arch now) and Under 16s coach Leigh Bromby is allowed to move on. Under 18s coach Richard Naylor is also put on notice of redundancy. Meanwhile, Leeds release 13 players including Michael Brown and El Hadji Diouf. No arguments there.

A bolt from the blue comes from the Middle East as GFH invites David Haigh to Dubai to discuss a job offer, only to have him arrested for alleged financial misconduct. But McDermott is the priority United's manager in name alone by then. He and the club are communicating via terse emails, and Cellino in his infamous "where's Brian?" speech accuses McDermott of going absent without leave. The former Reading boss is actually with his terminally ill mother in Berkshire. There is only one conceivable outcome and on May 30, Cellino agrees to pay McDermott off. Gibbs says he would rather move on and is subsequently made to sit through daily 9 to 5 shifts at Elland Road.

United's players are recalled from their holidays early for one to one buyreplicaoakleys.com meetings with the club's president. There's doubt over Ross McCormack's future and more again when Fulham bid 5m for him.

By now, Cellino has ideas in place for his next head coach. He likes Reading's Eamonn Dolan but Reading want more than 500,000 for their academy boss so Cellino works Wikipedia hard by naming David Hockaday as McDermott's successor, with Junior Lewis as his number two. They rattle 16 unanswered goals past a village side, FC Gherdeina, and then play a game amongst themselves later in the week after their Romanian opponents fail to show up.