Leeds United star Patrick Bamford reveals brutal Sam Allardyce message in aftermath of Manchester City defeat

Leeds United's Patrick Bamford played under Sam Allardyce as the Whites attempted to keep their heads above water in the Premier League. Image: LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP via Getty Images

Allardyce was drafted in with Leeds embroiled in a battle for Premier League survival last season.

He took charge of the club’s final four games but was unable to prevent the Whites dropping back into the Championship.

Speaking to comedian Joe Wilkinson on the ‘My Mate’s a Footballer’ podcast, Bamford has opened up on Allardyce’s management style.

After the Whites fell to defeat against Manchester City under Allardyce, Bamford was given a particularly brutal post-match message.

He explained: “When Sam came in, we played Manchester City away, obviously a tough game anyway. I felt like a dog chasing a ball that I was getting nowhere near.

"I remember, after the game, I was like ‘wow, I’ve not done anything that game’.

"He came up to me and he goes ‘alright?’. I said yeah. He goes ‘never play like that for me again’.

"That just reaffirmed what I already knew – I had had a shocker. “

Leeds had become infamous in the top flight for their calamitous defending and it was one of the key reasons behind their eventual relegation.

It was a problem Allardyce identified immediately upon his arrival, according to Bamford.

He said: “Honestly, he was brilliant. We had a meeting, we're all sat there, he's come in, just walked in, just stood at the front with his cup of tea, and just basically told us basically we're **** [negative expletive] at defending.

"Just told us we need to sort this out. And hat's what he did. There was no beating around the bush. The lads who didn't really know much about him, in terms of they'd been playing abroad or are foreign lads, are a bit taken aback.

"But obviously us English lads, who even growing up have watched him as a manager, you know what he's like. We're just like 'this is brilliant'. Tell it to us how it is and we can deal with it.

“It was simplifying it and just going back to the basics, which obviously last year we weren’t very good at. So he had a job on his hands.

"He definitely got us tighter at the back and if he’d been there a little but longer, we would’ve been fine.”