The father of a boy in a viral video which appears to show Leeds United players walking straight past a young fan has said the reaction to the clip has been "ridiculous".
A video, which has been in circulation across social media, shows eight-year-old Dylan Wale watching the players walk out of their hotel on their way to play Bournemouth. Many appear to walk straight by him with acknowledging him, but his father says this is not the case.
According to John, a number of the players stopped and smiled at Dylan, or fist-bumped him on their way past. Others stopped to speak with him and Jack Harrison stopped and gave him an autograph.
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John said: "They went down there just to see the players and I was working so I got messages on WhatsApp with photos on and a very happy little boy with loads of players high-fiving him, fist-pumping him and signing autographs.
"Javi Gracia was fabulous, bent down, shook his hand and tickled his chin. Dylan was over-the-moon."
However, the family woke up this morning to see a clip of the team leaving the hotel and appearing to ignore Dylan. According to John, the reaction has left them "gobsmacked" as even in the clip, you can see Max Wöber turning around to smile and say hi.
John added: "They focused on this negativity. They've misconstrued what happened and they've kind of made it look like Leeds, the players, are a bunch of ignoramuses which is not the truth at all.
"Jack Harrison had a little laugh with Dylan because Dylan's a cheeky little chap and he said 'Jack, my mum fancies you' and he said 'oh your mum fancies me' and of course mum wants to curl up and die."
The family have since been contacted by the club who offered their apologies, but John told them they had nothing to apologise for. He also defended the players who did walk by, saying they had to focus as the match with Bournemouth was an extremely important one.
He added that Weston McKennie had been "slated ever since he's arrived" and had to focus. He said: "These players aren't just about you, they've got to think about the game haven't they? That's the most fundamental thing with them.
"They've got to get on with it, so, to be honest, all this negativity's come out and what a day we've had. I mean, I can't believe it's gone the way it has."
John also said he didn't want anything from the club or from others as there was no problem, and Dylan was "very happy" after seeing his favourite players. He added: "It's ridiculous, it's just surreal."
Leeds United officially released an apology after the video spread on social media earlier today. It read: "As the first team squad at Leeds United, we wanted to reach out to the fan base regarding yesterday’s game and subsequent posts on social media.
"Firstly, the performance was not good enough. There is no other way to look at it and the only way to respond is on the pitch. Leeds fans travel up and down the country in huge numbers and deserve more than this.
"What is just as concerning to us as a group, is the video online of us leaving the hotel. Words can’t express how sorry we are that the youngster in the video wearing the Leeds kit is not shown more love from the squad. On a matchday we do an activation walk, before and after this we stop for photos and autographs to ensure we interact with fans, but also that we are on time when leaving for games. However, there is no excuse for not acknowledging fans and if the parents of the fan wearing the Leeds kit in the video could make themselves known to us, we would be grateful.
"We do not believe that this fight is over and we will keep going until the last ball is kicked this season. Thank you again for your support."
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