Leeds United’s owner Massimo Cellino banned for 18 months by FA

Leeds United’s owner, Massimo Cellino. Photograph: Matthew Impey/REX/Shutterstock

Massimo Cellino, the owner of Leeds United, is contemplating an 18-month suspension from all football-related activities after the Football Association revealed that a disciplinary panel convened in September had found him guilty of breaching agent regulations.

The delay in announcing a sanction scheduled to take effect from 1 February was prompted by concerns that publicising Cellino’s punishment for his role in Ross McCormack’s transfer from Leeds to Fulham in 2014 for around £11m might prejudice the appeal the 60-year-old Italian is currently preparing.

Cellino – currently close to selling a 50% stake in Leeds to Andrea Radrizzani, an Italian businessmen and co-founder of a media-rights group, MP & Silva – denies breaking the FA’s rules by facilitating the payment of £185,000 to an unlicensed adviser of McCormack but the two-day Wembley hearing chaired by Nicholas Stewart QC disagreed.

Should the appeal fail, the ever controversial Cellino – who has also been fined £250,000 – will be barred from playing any role at Elland Road until 1 September 2018 and, in addition, must attend an FA education programme. Whatever the outcome, it is likely that the offloading of shares to Radrizzani, who says negotiations are already “advanced”, will be accelerated.

In a statement the governing body said: “Mr Cellino has been suspended for 18 months from being a director or shadow director of Leeds United or any other football club or company whose activities include ownership of a football club. By 30 April 2017 he is to attend and complete an FA education programme covering the duties and responsibilities of an owner and director of an English football club.”

It is the third time the former owner of Cagliari has been handed a suspension by England’s football authorities since taking over in west Yorkshire in April 2014. Typically the man whose company, Eleonora Sport – named after his daughter – assumed total control of the club in September responded by expressing “surprise” and claiming he was guilty only of “protecting Leeds United”.

The club, who also received a separate £250,000 fine for their part in the McCormack transfer and will also be appealing, declined to comment on Thursday but Cellino proved more forthcoming. “I am not guilty and I will take the right steps to defend myself through the tribunal,” he said. “I ask the players, manager and my staff to continue to work with loyalty and professionalism and to keep fighting for the club every day on and off the pitch.

“I am sure that the public in this country and the free press will take the time to look into this case and find the truth,” Cellino added.

Leeds, as a club, meanwhile, will contest the charge on the basis that, given financial penalties levied in similar cases, they feel it is disproportionately large. In 2015 Arsenal were fined £60,000 for a breach of regulations involving Calum Chambers’ transfer from Southampton and Brighton had to pay £90,000 after Dale Stephens’ move from Charlton Athletic.

There is also a certain bewilderment at Elland Road that the FA elected to make Cellino the subject of a personal misconduct charge as sanctions stemming from illegal payments are more commonly applicable solely to clubs as collectives rather than individuals.

Derek Day, the licensed agent working for McCormack, has received a £75,000 fine and an 18-month ban, 11 months of which is suspended. Along with Cellino and Leeds, he was found culpable of ensuring that a payment reached Barry Hughes, an unlicensed adviser associated with McCormack.

No stranger to brushes with authority, Cellino took over Leeds only after winning an appeal concerning a tax issue. In 2014 the Football League imposed a six-month ban on him relating to a tax offence in Italy and earlier this year he had another suspension overturned.

Uncharacteristically, he has cut a subdued figure this season, deliberately staying in the background and keeping fairly quiet as under the management of Garry Monk – the seventh head coach appointment during his eventful two-and-a-half year tenure – Leeds are enjoying their best season since 2005-06 and appear in strong contention for promotion to the Premier League.