Victor Orta demanded that the Leeds United players drained Elland Road of its champagne supply last night, Patrick Bamford has revealed.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side are back in the Premier League after West Brom’s defeat by Huddersfield confirmed that the Whites couldn’t possibly finish lower than second in the Championship.
The Leeds players gathered at the stadium to watch Albion lose away to the Yorkshire side, who took an early lead and then scored a late winner to seal United’s success.
Orta, the club’s Director of Football, was with the players at Elland Road and the Spanish transfer guru gave the go-ahead for the mass celebrations if promotion was secured.
Bamford, a £10 million signing in 2018, told BBC’s Football Focus today: “We all went there [to Elland Road] thinking West Brom were going to win and we’re going to have to do it [win promotion] on Sunday.
“We were all surprised and it went from one thing to another. Victor Orta came in before the game finished and was like, ‘If we’re up, I don’t want a single drop of champagne left in this place’.”
Just when you thought the weekend couldn’t get any better for Leeds, Brentford’s defeat at Stoke City confirmed Bielsa’s troops as champions of the second tier.
That means that Derby County, their biggest rivals from last season, might have to give them a Guard of Honour at Pride Park tomorrow, which will hurt everybody affiliated with the Rams, who eliminated the Yorkshire club from the playoff semi-finals last season.
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