Patrick Bamford reveals how Sam Allardyce ripped him apart before Leeds United exit
Patrick Bamford has revealed how Sam Allardyce ripped him to pieces during his time as Leeds United manager last season.
Speaking on the BBC’s My Mate’s A Footballer podcast on Thursday (23 November), the 30-year-old forward said the former Whites boss told the side immediately how poor they were at defending following his arrival at Elland Road.
The English forward added that the 69-year-old was disappointed by his performance in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in May after telling him to “never play like that” for him again.
“When we got Big Sam in, [he] just basically told us we’re [expletive] at defending, just told us we need to sort this out,” said Bamford.
“We played Man City away, after the game I was like ‘wow, I’ve not done anything that game’ and I felt like [expletive]. And he came up to me and he goes ‘never play like that for me again’, I was like ‘alright’. When I’ve been [expletive], I know more than anyone, I don’t need telling.”
Ruthless
It doesn’t come as too much of a surprise to hear this from Bamford as Allardyce has never been one to mince his words during his time in management.
It clearly wasn’t the case during his short time with Leeds either as he looked to employ a bit of tough love in order to get a tune out of the players.
But that approach didn’t work, however, as the Whites bowed out of the Premier League in a pretty disappointing fashion, finishing five points from safety.
It was a fairly poor campaign for Bamford on a personal level, too, as he registered just four goals in his 28 league appearances.
Allardyce has always been known for having a strapping forward leading the line for him, so it’s no real surprise that the striker came in for extra criticism after not doing the job that was expected of him.
In other Leeds United news, Weston McKennie has made a fresh Whites admission after what he did.