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The game at Elland Road will be televised live on Sky Sports 1. Richard Sellers

Leeds forced to back down after banning Sky TV cameras from Elland Road

The Championship club were facing a ‘range of sanctions’ over attempts to deny the channel access to broadcast their meeting with Derby County.

Updated at 15.00 

LEEDS UNITED HAVE ‘reluctantly’ allowed Sky Sports into Elland Road to televise tonight’s Championship fixture with Derby County.

The West Yorkshire club had refused to permit Sky personnel access to the ground ahead of the match due to owner Massimo Cellino’s unhappiness at what he claims are repeated kick-off and date changes for their fixtures.

Leeds claimed they are among the clubs to be shown most regularly on television and were asked by the Football League on Monday for their observations on the situation.

And as negotiations between Leeds and the Football League were on-going, the latter had confirmed sanctions were a possibility.

“Under Football League regulations clubs are required to provide access to the League’s broadcasting partners for the purpose of setting up and filming any matches that are selected for transmission,” said a spokesperson.

Failure to do so will lead to a club being charged with misconduct with the matter being referred to an independent Football Disciplinary Commission (FDC).

“The FDC has a full range of sanctions at its disposal.”

The organisation said on Monday that it hoped for a swift resolution, and at 3pm on Tuesday, just hours before kick-off, Sky personnel were finally allowed access to the ground.

“Leeds United have reluctantly allowed Sky cameras into Elland Road to broadcast tonight’s fixture against Derby County,” a statement from the club reads.

“Leeds United have noted that the majority of press reports on the matter have quite rightly appreciated that the club’s issues with the Football League relate in part to the entirely disproportionate number of times Sky have selected the club for live transmission.

It is not just the number of times the club has been selected, but the fact the adjoining fixtures are also then disrupted which adversely affects the players, the club’s logistical arrangements and the fans’ arrangements.

“It is clear to the club that its key supporters, the Season Ticket holders, have also had enough of this constant alteration, often at short notice, to the fixture list to accommodate Sky.”

Cellino – who saw a second individual disqualification from running the club suspended by the Football League in November – has previously been critical of Sky’s scheduling, stating the club’s stature is “exploited”.

The former Cagliari owner limited the number of away tickets Leeds would sell to 2,000 as a way of protesting to the Football League in October.

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11 Comments
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    Mute Dan Smith
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    Dec 29th 2015, 2:36 PM

    Cellino is as mad as a bag of spiders. Banning Sky Sports would be tame by his book!

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    Mute Johnny Mc Donnell
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    Dec 29th 2015, 3:04 PM

    He’s destroying Leeds . How they let this header by the club is beyond me!! Need to get him out asap

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    Mute Armand One
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    Dec 29th 2015, 3:46 PM

    I’d still have Cellino over Bates in an instant….. At least Cellino actually tries with player investment and signings.

    Remember the previous Leeds chairman Ken Bates?? coldly and calculatedly derailed the club’s last serious promotion push in 2011, by selfishly selling off unreplaceable talent like Gradel, Snodgrass, Howson, Johnson, Schmeichel just when we looked like serious promotion contenders… The club has naturally been lower mid table mediocre ever since an never look like threatening the top 6… absolutely unforgivable.

    Be careful what you wish for, Cellino’s clumsy antics are tame in comparison the two previous clowns we had in charge.

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    Mute Hugh G. Johnson
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    Dec 29th 2015, 2:23 PM

    Massimo Cellino….

    Well there you go.

    Absolute moron.

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    Mute RossMcEntegart
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    Dec 29th 2015, 6:27 PM

    ‘scuse my ignorance, but isn’t it a GOOD thing if Sky are broadcasting plenty of your club’s matches?

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    Mute Razorlufc
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    Dec 29th 2015, 2:37 PM

    Check your facts…they “attempted” to restrict away tickets but that did not happen!

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    Mute Joe Bloggs
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    Dec 29th 2015, 3:16 PM

    That’s not what sky are reporting

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    Mute Razorlufc
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    Dec 29th 2015, 3:26 PM

    Well then if Sky are reporting it well then it must be true! Sorry about that!

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    Mute Baz Dunne
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    Dec 29th 2015, 8:14 PM

    As a Leeds fan this is yet another embarrassing chapter in the last 13 yrs of humiliation. I’m done with them at this stage. Absolute joke.

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    Mute Brian Les
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    Dec 29th 2015, 11:19 PM

    It was done in protest at sky moving games Willy nilly and putting Leeds players and fans attending under pressure.Derby had an extra days recovery. It’s great for us fans to watch a few games on tv. The local fans might stay away and watch on the box to save a few quid hitting home attendances.

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