Bosses at English soccer club Leeds United have shot down rumours suggesting Russell Crowe is interested in buying the team, insisting the franchise is "not for sale".

The Gladiator star has been a fan of the Football League Championship team since he was a kid, and a group of Leeds devotees recently appealed to Crowe via Twitter.com to become a club owner after becoming frustrated by the series of managers hired over the past year, since Massimo Cellino became club president.

The actor reposted one of the pleas and wrote, "Anybody else think this is a good idea?"

He was subsequently inundated with positive responses, prompting Crowe to lay out his "vision" for the team, reports BBC Sport.

He tweeted, "There has to be one voice that sets the tone. Every thought and every decision has to be about success on the field."

However, any hopes Crowe may have had of making fans' dreams a reality were dismissed on Thursday (26Feb15), when club chairman Andrew Umbers insisted there were no plans to sell to anyone.

Umbers says, "The club is not for sale nor do the Cellino family wish to sell and nor have we received any approaches contrary to reports in the press today...

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

Cellino has been banned from running the club until April (15) after he was found guilty of tax evasion in his native Italy last year (14).

Crowe, who is worth an estimated $76.8 million (£48 million), is no stranger to sports management - he co-owns the Australian rugby club South Sydney Rabbitohs.