Sky Bet Championship: Leeds owner Massimo Cellino reveals plans to move training facilities

Leeds president Massimo Cellino wants to move the club away from its Thorp Arch academy and replace it with coaching facilities on a site closer to Elland Road.

The 56-year-old Italian revealed he was considering leaving the state-of-the-art training complex in May and gave a clearer indication of his intentions when unveiling David Hockaday as the club's new head coach.

Hockaday said he and new assistant Junior Lewis could not wait to meet the Leeds players after signing a two-year contract and when asked if that would be at Thorp Arch, Cellino revealed: "For this year yes, but we are looking for a let close by the club.

"My intention is to move the training centre close by Elland Road because we cannot waste too much time up there.

"You know that I'm very superstitious. Thorp Arch was built in 2002. Since then we are down (out of the Premier League).

"I don't think it's a very lucky place, so there's something wrong with the place and it's too far away."

Cellino, who completed his club takeover in April, temporarily closed Thorp Arch as a cost-cutting measure at the end of the season and claimed then that he could not justify the academy's £2.5million annual running costs.

Former manager Howard Wilkinson was responsible for establishing the club's training facilities at Thorp Arch in the mid-90s and it was upgraded in 2002.

The academy, situated in the village of Thorp Arch outside Wetherby and over 20 miles from Elland Road, was sold by the club's previous owners shortly after Leeds were relegated from the Premier League in 2004.

It is currently owned by Manchester-based businessman Jacob Adler's Barnaway Ltd and leased back to the club for a reported annual fee of £600,000, which rises three per cent each year.