FA disciplinary panel to reveal this week whether Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino paid £185k ‘bung’ to unlicensed agent

A FOOTBALL Association disciplinary panel deliberating on whether Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino paid a six figure “bung” are due to deliver their verdict imminently.

Italian Cellino, who is understood to be in advanced talks to sell a stake in the club, is accused of breaking agent regulations by agreeing to pay £185,000 to an unlicensed advisor of striker Ross McCormack, when he was moving from Elland Road to Fulham for £10.75million in July 2014.

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Cellino attended a two-day hearing at the FA’s Wembley HQ in September – and the club have pleaded guilty to the offence could face a hefty fine.

However, Cellino was charged with a separate breach of FA rules over his role in the transfer – which he denies and contested during the Wembley hearing – his not-guilty plea leaving him potentially open to tougher penalties should he be found guilty.

The six-figure sum which the FA claims Leeds agreed to pay was to Barry Hughes, an unlicensed consultant of Scottish player McCormack – who is now at Aston Villa.

McCormack is not accused of any wrongdoing.

The FA independent panel contend the money was illegally paid to Glasgow-based Hughes via McCormack’s licensed agent, Derek Day.

The FA’s rules forbid payments to unlicensed third parties during transfer deals – and if the FA find Leeds and Cellino guilty, it could be the first chance for the governing body to flex their muscles after the Football For Sale scandal which implicated former England boss Sam Allardyce.

It is not thought any sanction will affect the proposed sale of the Yorkshire giants to Italian sports rights mogul Andrea Radrizzani – which is expected in the next few weeks.

But if Cellino is found guilty, it could give the potential new owner an issue almost immediately.

The McCormack deal was one of the first concluded after Cellino’s takeover of Leeds in April 2014 – and his tenure has not been a happy one, with a raft of managers and lack of on-pitch success straining the relationship between the owner and the fans.