Leeds United released a current Premier League captain at just the age of 16 and now, he has explained why The Whites chose not to hand him a professional contract in 2007.
It is often heard of how clubs release players at just 16 or even younger and they go and make their careers elsewhere, often make their boyhood sides look foolish for releasing them when they were 16.
With Leeds, one example is midfielder Tom Cairney. The two-time Scotland international was released by Leeds back in 2007 having spent half of his life at that point in the highly-esteemed Thorp Arch academy.
Fulham captain Tom Cairney explains Leeds United releasing him
Cairney has gone on to become a Fulham legend, clocking up a massive 341 appearances for the West London side over the past nine years after completing a move from Blackburn Rovers to Fulham in 2015.
He remains Fulham’s club captain even if he is not always one of the first names on the team sheet under manager Marco Silva. Cairney has started just four of 16 games for Fulham, an unused sub three times.
Cairney was a guest on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football with Dave Jones and Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher. Discussing his Leeds release at 16, Carragher asked Cairney: “Why didn’t it work out at Leeds?”
Cairney replied: “I got released at 16. I was there from seven or eight, until 16. I was a late developer, a really late developer physically. They said they didn’t have the time to wait, couldn’t get around the pitch.
“Physically, I was physically weak. I was small. The technical side I had but always in youth football, the strongest and fastest wins until everyone catches up,” Cairney said, explaining why Leeds let him go at 16.
Tom Cairney shares how Leeds nabbed him off Nottingham Forest
Cairney joined Leeds at the age of just seven in 1998, but had already been added to Nottingham Forest’s academy. However, Leeds came calling and the Fulham captain explained how moving to Leeds occurred.
Speaking on Monday Night Football, Cairney suggested that Leeds swooped to take him off of Forest’s hands but that he as a child had little to do with it and actually, it was his Dad that delivered the news.
“Leeds took me off Forest at 8, in a way if you can say that. I remember coming home from school and my Dad said you’re going to Leeds. ‘What!’ We got in the car, we drove up to Thorp Arch,” Cairney said.
“You weren’t allowed to live an hour outside the training ground but we did. It was chaos, my Dad was a taxi driver at the time. He used to break down on the way home, it was carnage. Unbelievable memories.”
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