Redfearn in the dark over Crowe link

Leeds head coach Neil Redfearn said speculation linking actor Russell Crowe with a possible investment in the club was "irrelevant to him and hisplayers".

Chairman Andrew Umbers has insisted the club is not for sale in response to rumours that Leeds fan Crowe, 50, could be ready to make a bid following a series of posts on Twitter in which he asked whether it would be "a good idea".

Massimo Cellino's announcement earlier this week that he will not be returning as president on April 10 after serving his ban as club owner, in a bid to clear his name, has fuelled talk of more upheaval at Elland Road but Redfearn played it down.

"To be honest with you I don't know anything about it," Redfearn said.

"We've got an owner and from the previous conversations I've had with himbefore his suspension, he's all for what we're doing and he's here for the long run. That's as much as I know."

Asked if the links with Crowe had had any impact on his players, Redfearnadded: "I think it's irrelevant. The players are more interested in whatthey're doing week-to-week, game-to-game, I think they've got the bit between their teeth now.

"They know we're in a far better position and they're really together. That'sobvious and visible as well after games, you can see that togetherness, andthey're concentrating on their football, which is what they should be doing."

Cellino has sold his personal stake in Eleonora Sport - the company he set up to buy Leeds a year ago - in order to independently appeal his Football League disqualification following a tax evasion conviction.

But Umbers has insisted Cellino does not want to sell and there had not been any approaches.

"The ongoing legal discussions between Massimo Cellino and the Football League are being completely misinterpreted," Umbers said in an interview.

"Leeds United is currently being successfully restructured, rebuilt,significantly invested in, with care and planning for the longer term with theCellino family at its heart, for the benefit of its long-suffering and passionate fans, the city and its players and staff."

Crowe, who bought a 75 per cent stake in newly-crowned rugby league world champions South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2006, dates his support of Leeds back to watching them on television in the 1970s under Don Revie.