LEEDS United are a club with a proud history.

They were once one of the biggest in the land, winning the old First Division title in 1992.

Even now in the Championship they command crowds in excess of 20,000 at Elland Road.

But 15 years ago they were taken to the brink by a seemingly success-at-all-costs policy, which saw them reach the Champions League semi-finals while also nearly going bankrupt in the process.

It was something that took them a long time from which to recover and some would argue they are still paying the price for that period of mismanagement.

Now, despite that episode being still part of their recent history, Massimo Cellino is doing his very best to destroy what reputation the club has managed to rebuild.

The Italian businessman is once again dragging Leeds’ name through the dirt and making them a laughing stock.

He has now been banned from running the club for a second time after failing the Football League’s owners’ and directors’ test.

Cellino also hires and fires on a whim, the recruitment of the less-than-squeaky-clean Steve Evans being United’s sixth head coach in 18 months.

One, Dave Hockaday, is now at Kidderminster Harriers.

Swapping and changing managers on a regular basis only works if it is to the improvement of the team.

This clearly is not the case at Leeds, who are at the wrong end of the table and going nowhere quickly.

Cellino represents all that is bad about impatient owners wanting success yesterday and there are plenty of them around.

They may put the money in and call the shots but that’s of little use if all that is achieved is instability.

As long as Cellino hangs around, it will be even longer before Leeds get anywhere near English football’s top table again.