How a dog is keeping Leeds United striker’s ball skills sharp

In addition to the strict training regimes the Whites are given by strength and conditioning coaches at the club, which usually consist of a running session and a gym session, Bamford has tried to spend time with a ball every day.

Footballers often complain when training consists only of fitness work and nothing with the ball, but when he first began training alone because of the coronavirus pandemic, Bamford had hi-tech gym equipment delivered to him by the club but did not actually own a football.

“I had to order a ball off Amazon,” the centre-forward revealed. What Bamford is doing with it is less about keeping sharp for the return of football, more about looking after himself mentally. Football League clubs have been told not expect to be able to train together until at least May 16, meaning it could be some time before many players have a ball at their feet again.

“It’s one of those replica ones so it’s a bit mis-shaped but I’ve got one and I just play around in the garden and the dog tries to take it off me and nicks it and stuff so I’m just messing about,” explained Bamford.

“I try and get out there every day and even if it’s only ten minutes, just messing around with the dog is a little bit of dribbling.

“It’s nothing regimented, just purely for enjoyment I guess!”

The Football League and Premier League seasons have been put on hold indefinitely, but with a widespread feeling that players will need at least two or three weeks’ “pre-season” before the action resumes again, it is highly unlikely Leeds will have another competitive match this side of June.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor