The father of a young Leeds United fan claimed he was "gobsmacked" to see negative press surrounding the players after a video surfaced on social media.
Leeds were pushed further into trouble as their leaky defence continued to be a problem in their 4-1 defeat at Bournemouth. It leaves them narrowly above the bottom three but lacking in form and confidence. Off the pitch they've also seen their conduct criticised.
A young fan was at the team hotel before their match but a clip has shown the enthusiastic lad continually shunned by players. His father has come out and explained that the video only captures half the story, with several players failing to interact, whilst he explained that a number of the squad did their bit with the fan.
He told the Yorkshire Evening Post : "We live in Southampton but we heard Dylan could get the chance to see his heroes at Bournemouth. He had a fantastic day. Luke Ayling fist bumped him, Javi Gracia came and tickled his chin and had a chat with him, Jack Harrison had a laugh with him, Adam Forshaw came down the stairs with his hand out to high five him and Brenden Aaronson signed an autograph.
"Max Wober turned and said hi, Willy Gnonto said hi. He was buzzing. He's got three autographs, we had a great day and there you have it. Then this morning, Caleb his elder brother spotted this post from SportBible and I was gobsmacked. The video just shows the players who didn't say hi.
"We know full well they're under pressure, they're trying to stay in the Premier League and we're devastated because we don't want to be involved in negative press."
Leeds have picked up just one point in the last 15, conceding huge amounts of goals. Their latest setback at their relegation rivals saw the players come in for further criticism as they look to maintain their Premier League status. The club have now released a joint player-statement addressing the social media posts regarding their attitude towards the young fan.
A statement 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."
