Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino said he’s “learning about football all over again” in England, including the cash from beer sales.
The fiery former Cagliari President spoke to Gazzetta TV and was typically forthright about his experiences.
“The Championship is the real English football, as here we have English managers and English players.
“I had to learn about football all over again, just when I thought after 30 years in the sport I had nothing more to discover.
Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino said he’s “learning about football all over again” in England, including the cash from beer sales.
The fiery former Cagliari President spoke to Gazzetta TV and was typically forthright about his experiences.
“The Championship is the real English football, as here we have English managers and English players.
“I had to learn about football all over again, just when I thought after 30 years in the sport I had nothing more to discover.
“Here clubs have revenue of €45m every year, selling almost 100,000 shirts per season and all this is not including TV rights.
“Just consider the fact that in Serie A Cagliari get a little more than €35m revenue with the TV rights included. It’s another world financially.
“On match day we sell a huge amount of beer… we manage to make money from every activity.”
Cellino also outlined his hopes for Leeds United in this season’s Championship.
“Budgets have been lowered and there is more caution in investments. We managed to keep our best players, which was the most important thing.
“On paper we are competitive to have our say. I won’t talk about promotion, because it’s bad luck to comment, but we can have our say.
“Derby County built a competitive side, Middlesbrough already were and are consolidating, then there are the newly relegated teams Burnley, Hull and QPR.
“QPR have a bit of a tempestuous club situation, Burnley are from a small town and we don’t know if they have the suitable players for the Championship.
“Hull City I know little about, but they are from a small town by the sea full of fishermen. They have a lot of economic potential, but we saw they haven’t invested much this summer.
“That is reassuring and we have more stability than last term. It was a bit of a strange situation with a few surprises last year.”
Cellino is also learning when it comes to pronouncing the names of his Championship opponents.
“They all sound the same to me. When I say one, it turns out I mean another. Burnley is a real problem. I’m learning!”