Jason Pearce opens up over Elland Road departure and Massimo Cellino ahead of Leeds United reunion

The 31-year-old central defender left Elland Road in 2015 following a three-year spell in West Yorkshire.

Pearce made over 100 appearances for the Whites during his stint at the club before joining Wigan Athletic.

The Portsmouth academy graduate is now club captain under Lee Bowyer at Charlton Athletic, with the pair looking forward to facing their former side at The Valley on this afternoon.

Pearce, though, has now discussed his time at the club which coincided with a turbulent period under former owner Massimo Cellino, who he says wanted him out of LS11 upon his arrival.

“Portsmouth were in financial difficulty but I wanted to stay there,” Pearce told the

“I’d come through the ranks there. But they said they needed to sell me and Joel Ward [to Crystal Palace] to keep the club going, which we had to do.

“Leeds and Burnley came in for me at the time – I had contracts on the table from both. Eddie Howe was the manager at Burnley, so I had the chance to go back and play with him [previously working together at Bournemouth].

“I chose Leeds because it is a huge club with a huge history. I thought they had a good chance of going up.

“It didn’t happen. I had a good time there but towards the end it went a little bit sour for me. I was the captain and Massimo Cellino came in as the owner and wanted to change things around.

“He tried to push me out of the club. At my age I didn’t want to just sit in the reserves, rot away and take my money – I’m not like that. I’ve always just wanted to play football.

“We brought in probably five or six Italian players straight away. That’s fair enough, he had his own way. I wasn’t interested in being part of the politics and being pushed out of the side.

“I could have held out there and things might have changed but I made the decision for footballing reasons. I stand by that.

“I’ve played against Leeds once since, while I was at Wigan. I don’t think I left on bad terms with the fans. The way I play is to always give 100 per cent and I expect they appreciated that.

“It’s not about the reception, more important is getting the three points.”