Ross McCormack has launched a stinging attacking on Leeds United, who he feels left him ‘hung out to dry’ over his summer exit.
Despite a disappointing campaign in the Championship, in which they finished in the bottom half of the table, McCormack enjoyed an impressive season individually, with his 29 goals making him the top goalscorer in the division. This inevitably led to speculation over his future, and he was linked with a host of Premier League clubs in the summer.
However, although he did indeed leave the Elland Road club, he did so to join another side in the second-tier. Fulham, who had been relegated from the Premier League, agreed to meet the £11million asking price for the Scotland international, a price which surprised many pundits and supporters alike. The 28-year-old is clearly unhappy at the way his time on Yorkshire ended, and clams he was left with little choice but to bid farewell to the club.
“When Leeds went back for pre-season training, I went in that day and was told not to train by the club because they were talking to Fulham,” he told The Sun. “They didn’t want me getting injured with the size of the fee. It was important to the club that they didn’t miss out. The day Leeds went to Italy I was actually down here at Fulham having my medical, so to say I didn’t show up for training is not accurate. I felt it was pretty nasty in the end. It was never going to be, ‘Thanks for last season, thanks for the help you gave the club’.”
McCormack had been linked with Newcastle United, West Ham United and his former club, Cardiff City, during the January transfer window, when a fee of £6million was quoted. So when Fulham agreed to pay almost twice this amount, Leeds owner Massimo Cellino made it clear to the forward that he was making the move to the Craven Cottage club.
“It’s hard to sit here and say I could have gone to other clubs, but I probably could have,” McCormack added. “Yet Fulham were willing to give Leeds the most money. Leeds said, ‘You’re either going there or you’re not going at all’. Cellino named his price and he got it. Was I hung out to dry? In my opinion, yes. But there are other problems. When we came back this summer the canteen was closed, the kitchen staff had been sacked. The laundry room was closed, the laundry staff had been sacked. It was like a morgue.
“There was no-one there, no friendly faces around. You come in, train and go home, as simple as that. It wasn’t a nice place to be. It’s sad because that was somewhere I honestly thought I was going to finish my career. I believed it was my club. I had a house there, my missus liked it and my little boy was settled. So I do feel hurt by what happened.”
Leeds fans, what do you make of McCormack’s comments? And do you think he was genuinely upset to leave the club? Let us know what you think by joining in the discussion below!
