Simon Jordan singles out Patrick Bamford for ‘Diabolical’ performances as Leeds United relegation confirmed
Simon Jordan has singled out Patrick Bamford for his “diabolical” performances this season after Leeds United saw their relegation to the Championship confirmed.
The Whites were beaten 4-1 at Elland Road against Tottenham to drop down to the second division after three years in the top flight, a game that Bamford missed through injury.
But while reacting to the news on talkSPORT (29 May, 10:41), Jordan believes Bamford’s “poor” contributions this season are a factor in why the club were relegated.
“They are [shocking] but if you look at Leeds’ decision making, they’ve never replaced Kalvin Phillips, they never replaced an offensive option in Raphinha,” he said.
“Patrick Bamford at times this season, I thought was diabolical.
“Poor, not just penalty misses but in games where he didn’t hold the line up, he didn’t do his job. I don’t know whether new contracts have effected his outcome because he got a new contract.
“He was back to the Patrick Bamford centre-forward that went around Palace and other football clubs because he couldn’t get a proper gig, rather than the Patrick Bamford, a couple of years ago, that was scoring a lot of goals for them.”
Spot on
We love Bamford and the things he did for this club to help get us promoted to the Premier League and then during our first year back are totally unforgettable.
He will be loved for it forever, but there comes a time and a place in time where players simply aren’t good enough anymore and Bamford is at that point now.
His body can’t cope with the rigours of top-level football and he is constantly injured or not 100%, and Leeds simply cannot continue to rely upon having someone like that as our first-choice option up front.
It was the same last year when the club had to rely on youngster Joe Gelhardt to prop us up, and this year we had to rely on Rodrigo playing out of position to do it and just weren’t as lucky with the result.
Bamford is done at this level and while he’ll always be remembered for the good he did here, it’s time to go now before he starts to become the villain.
In other Leeds news, Sam Matterface has shared the timeline for which fans can expect new owners to be in place at Elland Road.