Robert Green: Massimo Cellino is no mug, he is getting it right at Elland Road

"WHY did you fire the guy you just hired?"

That, according to new Leeds keeper Rob Green, is the obvious question anyone would ask of owner Massimo Cellino before deciding whether to join the Championship club.

The trigger-happy chairman has lived up to the "Manager Eater" nickname he was given back in his native Italy.

He has chewed his way through SIX bosses during just three years at Elland Road.

Steve Evans was the latest to bite the bullet, with the larger-than-life Scot getting the chop this summer in favour of Garry Monk.

Ex-Swansea chief Monk seems a savvy appointment, while signings like former England and West Ham keeper Green also look to be sharp business.

But against the backdrop of Cellino’s madcap tenure, fans will be wondering just how long these uncharacteristically smart moves will last before it is all change again.

Green admits he had the same reservations ahead of agreeing to a switch.

But he came to realise that despite all the hirings and firings, the TV camera rows and the pie taxes, Cellino (below) does have Leeds’ best interests at heart.

The 12-times capped keeper, 36, told SunSport: “The obvious question if you’re walking in here is, ‘Why did you fire the guy who you just hired?’

“But the chairman has justified them in his own right and at the time it made sense.
“It’s how he sees fit, the way in which the club goes.

“A lot of football clubs can seem great from the outside and on the inside they’re actually a bit of a mess.

“That works on the flip side as well.

“For all the bad reports and bad headlines the club gets, you can actually see how they’re getting it right in many aspects.

“I’m the biggest sceptic there is and for me to sit there and say ‘Fair dos’, you realise that while the club has had troubled times since the heady days of the early noughties, it is on an even keel.

“He’s managed to attract a manager in the calibre of Garry Monk. And he’s trying to go about things the right way. It’s not exactly as it seems from the outside.”

It is true that for all Cellino’s faults, he has pumped a lot of cash into a club which had major financial problems for as long as some of their young fans have been alive.

But supporters will still be aggrieved by the sale of whizkid and local lad Lewis Cook.

The midfielder was sold to Bournemouth this summer for a paltry £8million.

Green is just happy to be playing again after being frozen out at QPR due to a clause in his contract.
The R’s did not play the keeper after January 1 to prevent him from hitting the 30-game mark.

If he had done, it would have automatically extended his contract.

It left Green frustrated although it did give the erudite Woking lad a taste of life outside of football.

And, ironically, he now thinks the enforced break could actually prolong his career significantly.
The No 1 faces old club QPR tomorrow in their season-opener at Loftus Road.

He added: “I realised that 99.9 per cent of people are not at a football match on Saturday. The world does keep going round.