League Championship side Leeds United Owner Massimo Cellino’s ownership structure has injected £42.96M ($59.84M) into Leeds United since his takeover in Feb. '14, the club report, according to David Conn of the London GUARDIAN. Announcing that Leeds filed its financial accounts for the year to June 30 at Companies House -- "although the figures are not yet publicly available -- a club statement said that Eleonora Sport, the vehicle for the Cellino family’s ownership," converted £6.5M ($9M) of debt into shares and "invested further capital during that year," to make the total investment £42.96M. The club statement said that the loss made in '14-15 was £2M ($2.8M), significantly reduced from the £23M lost in the previous financial year. That was despite a "slight fall in attendances at Elland Road," and turnover reducing from £25.3M to £24.4M ($34M). The stanching of losses "appears substantially to have been due to selling players," including striker Ross McCormack, who was bought by Fulham for £11M in July '14. In the club statement, Cellino said, "The accounts illustrate the commitment that has been made to resolve the financial issues which have surrounded Leeds United Football Club. The club is now on a stable financial footing for the first time in many years" (GUARDIAN, 2/24). The PA reported the club's statement "reports that investment in the squad" was £6.1M ($8.5M) -- up from £2.3M in '13-14 -- with the total wage bill representing 71% of the club's total turnover. The club's statement "does not refer to former owners GFH Capital or any debts owed to them." However, it states that Eleonora Sport converted £6.5M of debt into shares during the '14-15 period. And the statement said that ESL's parent company has injected £42.96M into the club (PA, 2/24). In Yorkshire, Phil Hay reported Cellino has "endured a difficult relationship with sections of the club’s fans throughout his 22-month tenure," including recent protests against him, but he promised after his buy-out of GFH that he would "resolve the financial problems at Elland Road." Cellino said last month that "big cuts to cash" claimed by GFH through "invoices" had contributed to the sizeable fall in annual losses. United’s statement did not comment on "the exact sum raised through McCormack’s sale to Fulham," a deal which is believed to have raised close to £11M (YORKSHIRE EVENING POST, 2/24).
