By Craig Scott

31st May, 2023 | 7:10pm

Leeds United: Patrick Bamford speaks out after relegation as retirement confirmed for Gaetano Berardi

There’s been a deafening silence at Elland Road since Leeds United saw their relegation to the Premier League confirmed on Sunday afternoon.

An abysmal, gutless, pathetic performance in a 4-1 defeat to Tottenham confirmed what many fans thought was inevitable anyway – a return to the Championship.

Next season, we’ll be off to Home Park, The New York Stadium and The Den. But there’ll be no visit to Luton Town’s Kenilworth Road with the 10,356-seater stadium replacing Elland Road in the richest football league in the world.

There are many reasons why Leeds are in the Championship again. You can start at the top with Andrea Radrizzani, who’s exit plan from Elland Road has been in place for quite some time. Had he just sold up to 49ers Enterprises a while back or at least had a clear transitional process mapped out, things may have been different.

Victor Orta’s recruitment failure – in terms of both players and managers – has also played a role. He didn’t help himself with some truly pathetic behaviour in the directors’ box at Elland Road, making him an easy target for fans. But his work was so obviously hampered by Radrizzani and the 49ers pulling him in opposite directions.

Jesse Marsch, Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce can also have the finger pointed at them.

Basically, no one covered themselves in glory.

The players aren’t absolved of blame at all and a lot of fans have been complaining on social media about how they haven’t really heard anything from the squad since relegation.

Rodrigo and Joel Robles arguably have little to apologise for but they were the first and only two to speak out on Twitter or Instagram before 31 May where a few of their teammates started to come out of the woodwork.

Patrick Bamford has been the subject of frustration for Leeds fans for years and he’s also popped up on Instagram on Wednesday.

Many are going to look at Bamford’s missed penalty against Newcastle as what could have been a decisive factor in relegation from the Premier League.

If he scored that, we may not have won survival but at the very least it would have put some oompf into the side for that game against Tottenham.

Bamford’s resurfaced on Instagram to pay homage to his former Leeds teammate Gaetano Berardi after he announced that he’s retiring from the sport on Wednesday.

Bamford replied to Berardi’s post, saying: “What a guy. Enjoy what’s next, Bera.”

It’s hardly what Leeds United fans will have hoped and some unkind comments have already been posted in reply to the profligate striker.

There’s no need for that, that goes without saying. But Bamford could have been testing the waters a bit with that reply to Berardi. And based on the few nasty words that have been said to him there, you can bet there won’t be an official post by himself anytime soon.

Ultimately, he doesn’t need to apologise.

It’s not his fault that Leeds ignored their striker situation for years, forcing themselves to rely on a Championship-level forward to try and score the goals to lead them to safety.

Marcelo Bielsa had the nous to be able to get the best out of players like Bamford, Liam Cooper and Luke Ayling, giving the illusion that they can be decent in the Premier League.

Bamford’s been thrown under the bus by Radrizzani, Orta and co.

In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has revealed how an impasse between Radrizzani and the 49ers has been overcome.