Russell Crowe: Oscar-winning actor asks Twitter users if he should buy Leeds United but chairman says club is 'not for sale'

Star of Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator asks his 1.67m Twitter users if he should consider buying the club he supports

Jack de Menezes
Thursday 26 February 2015 09:34 GMT
Comments
Russell Crowe, star of Gladiator, has expressed an interest in buying Leeds
Russell Crowe, star of Gladiator, has expressed an interest in buying Leeds

Leeds United chairman Andrew Umbers has responded to actor Russell Crowe’s interest in buying the Championship club by insisting they’re “not for sale”.

The star of Gladiator and self-confessed Leeds fan Crowe caused a massive stir on Twitter on Wednesday when he responded to a fan asking him to buy the club by asking: “Anybody else think this is a good idea?”

Crowe already part-owns Australian rugby league side South Sydney Rabbitohs, who claimed the NRL Grand Final spoils last season and stated their claim as the undoubted best team in the world last weekend when they beat Super League champions St Helens 39-0 in the World Club Challenge.

Having supported Leeds since the early seventies, Oscar-winning Crowe could soon at football club owner to a growing list of jobs that includes Commander of the Armies of the North, Superman’s biological father and Robin Hood among many others.

Leeds have suffered a dramatic fall from grace since relegation from the Premier League, and they currently sit 14th in the second tier of English football, 18 points off the play-offs and 24 behind leaders Derby County.

However, after United supporters worked themselves up into a frenzy at the prospect of Crowe taking over the club, Leeds chairman Umbers issued a statement confirming that there have been no takeover approaches and the current owner Massimo Cellino has no immediate plans to sell despite his ban from the Football League.

"The club is not for sale nor do the Cellino family wish to sell and nor have we received any approaches contrary to reports in the press today," said Umbers.

"The ongoing legal discussions between Massimo Cellino and the Football League are being completely misinterpreted.

"Leeds United is currently being successfully restructured, rebuilt, significantly invested in, with care and planning for the longer term with the Cellino family at its heart, for the benefit of its long-suffering and passionate fans, the city and its players and staff."

Actor and South Sydney Rabbitohs co-owner Russell Crowe

58-year-old Cellino has been disqualified from the Football League until 10 April due to a tax fraud conviction back in his homeland of Italy, but is free to return to the club once the conviction becomes spent.

But despite the insistence that Leeds – whose registered owners are Eleonora Sport Limited – are nor for sale, Crowe asked his 1.67m Twitter followers if he should make an approach for the club he has supported since he was a little boy.

Crowe won an Oscar in 2001

Crowe also interacted with Leeds Fans LLP, a working party of supporters trying to gain a seat on the club’s board, insisting that there are ways that fan-ownership can help the club.

In three tweets replying to their Twitter account, Crowe said: “Look at a show called South Side Story you'll see how we handled this at South Sydney. It's up on you tube, 6 episodes.

“We set up a member company that has its own board and seats on the football club board. There has to be a singular vision.

“There has to be one voice that sets the tone. Every thought and every decision has to be about success on the field.”

It's not yet known if Crowe will make a formal approach to speak to the club.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in