Russell Crowe intensifies Leeds United takeover talk: 'I'm getting a little impatient with the club'

Russell Crowe has fuelled speculation linking him with a bid to takeover of Leeds United, insisting he, along with supporters, have grown 'impatient' with the current regime at Elland Road.

Crowe was initially linked with a bid for the Championship side after asking his followers on Twitter whether he should own his boyhood club.

Supporters group Leeds LLP welcomed the interest and confirmed this month they would try to hold talks with the Oscar-winning actor when he returns to the UK in April.

Current owner Massimo Cellino, who is barred from running the club until May after seeing his ban for failing the league's owners' and directors' test extended, recently refused to take the potential bid seriously and insisted he was not in the market to sell.

But life-long fan Crowe feels his work with Australian rugby league side South Sydney Rabbitohs, who he is co-owner of, has him equipped to help restore the club to England's top flight.

He told Radio 5 live: "I've followed Leeds since I was a little kid. I used to come home from sport in the afternoon, me and my brother, and watch Match of the Day.

"I love the club. I want nothing but success for the club. But like many other Leeds fans – and probably in fact 99.9 per cent - I'm getting a little impatient, you know?

Some of your listeners may not know that I own a rugby league team in Australia which, again, is my childhood team and they were a champion team when I was younger. Then they'd fallen in to a state of disarray and they were perennial losers. So, nine years ago, I put my cheque book where my mouth is and bought the club.

"Step-by-step, by changing the culture, changing the merchandise, changing the player roster, changing the coaching staff, changing the administrative staff and changing our connection to our community – we have risen from being perennial losers to being competitive, to being dominant – and now we're champions.

"We currently hold, South Sydney, every single trophy in the rugby league world that we're allowed to compete for – that's an incredible turnaround.

"So I know when it comes to sport that it's not necessarily about money, it's about culture.

"I've learned a lot in nine years and it would give me nothing but pleasure to see that white army, marching on together, getting back in the Premiership [Premier League] and being where they should be."