His reputation as a "coach-eater" accompanied him throughout his career as president. But Massimo Cellino , former owner of Cagliari, sacked one "by mistake". He told this to the DailyMail, with an anecdote dating back to 2014, when he had just become the owner of Leeds, in England.

The misunderstanding would depend on Cellino's famous superstition, who has always not tolerated the number 17 and the color purple. “My English was terrible, I was a mess,” he says. “As soon as I arrived I remember there was a hideous purple sofa in Elland Road and I wanted to change it. So I said to replace it immediately. “Change that sofa, it's very ugly ”».

It's a shame that the English word for "couch" is very similar to that for "coach": «And so the coach was fired» . It was McDermott.

«All this had happened the evening before a match», continues the former president, «and at that point they asked me who would lead the team on the pitch the next day. I was amazed and said: "Sorry, don't we have a coach?". And they rightly replied: “You just fired him”. There were 2,000 fans outside the stadium who wanted to kill me, the police had to escort me home."

So the coach's deputy went to the bench and won a resounding 5-1 victory. But a few days later McDermott was recalled .

(Unioneonline/L.Ne.)

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