The Whites were rocked ahead of a game against Charlton in 2015 as six players ruled themselves out of the fixture.
Former Leeds defender Sol Bamba
Sol Bamba has explained to the Yorkshire Evening Post that he is convinced that Leeds United’s infamous sicknote six were carrying genuine injuries that forced them to miss a game against Charlton in 2015.
The Whites were preparing for their final three fixtures of the 2014-15 campaign when Neil Redfearn was informed by Mirco Antenucci, Giuseppe Bellusci, Dario Del Fabro, Marco Silvestri, Edgar Cani and Souleymane Doukara that they would not be available for the clash at the Valley despite showing no signs of problems just a couple of days beforehand (via Mirror).
Mirco Antenucci was one of the six players to withdraw ahead of the trip to the Valley
The Yorkshire Evening Post reports that there was speculation at the time suggesting that the players – all brought in by Massimo Cellino – were looking to undermine Redfearn, who would be replaced as head coach that summer.
And while Bamba – who left the Whites shortly after the closure of this summer’s transfer window – admits that the severity of the injuries were not necessarily enough to rule all of them out, he explained why he is certain that the six players were being honest when claiming that they were not fully fit.
The incident was seen as an attempt to undermine then Leeds United manager Neil Redfearn
“I had no idea what the truth was. Afterwards, I tried to go deeper into it because I wanted to know if they were lying,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“I spoke to them personally and they were adamant that they were injured. I spoke to Harvey [Sharman, United’s former head physiotherapist] and he said they genuinely had injuries. Maybe other players would have played through them but that wasn’t really the point. I had a really good relationship with Harvey and he wouldn’t lie to me. If they were faking it then he’d have told me.”
Gaetano Berardi arguably came out of the incident having secured cult-hero status
Regardless of how honest the players were being, the fact that there were some doubts would have surely caused some friction amongst the team, especially after an unfit Gaetano Berardi earned the plaudits of supporters by taking a place on the bench in the wake of the incident.
Under Redfearn, the Whites hinted that they had the potential to move themselves into promotion contention if he was given support as manager. However, the battles that appeared to be happening off the pitch meant that the team were also going to struggle trying to enjoy success on it.
And while it must be reiterated that Bamba believes the players were carrying knocks, and thus, it is impossible to argue and suggest that it was an attempt to undermine the coach, this was perhaps the battle that confirmed that Redfearn was going to lose the war.
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