The tragedy intertwines with the comedy at Leeds United. The latest story indicates that manager Neil Redfearn has been ordered to bench his top scorer, Mirco Antenucci, because of the goalscoring bonus clause he’s about to activate.
Antenucci, who has scored 10 goals this season for the mid-table Championship club (the second tier of football in England for those living on a different planet), is one goal away from triggering a clause that rewards him with a cash bonus and gives him an automatic one-year extension (he is signed until 2016).
The outrageous stories never stop at this club, once one of the most successful in English football. The ownership tenure of Massimo Cellino hasn’t been solid, stable or sane, and this decision to keep one of the team’s best players out of the lineup for financial reason doesn’t even sound too dislodged from the zany logic following this club around.
Oh, and there’s also a rumor running around that the assistant manager has been suspended prior to the Friday match with Blackburn. And it might have something to do, or might not, with the Antenucci case. And Redfearn was asked not to tell the media why he’s not playing him.