René van der Gijp is surprised about the behavior of the Leeds United players. A painful video caused the necessary commotion on Sunday, after which the Peacocks felt compelled to come up with a statement a day later. A video on the Twitter account of SPORTbible went viral. The fragment shows that the Leeds selection passes a group of fans without batting an eyelid.
Dutchmen Pascal Struijk and Crysencio Summerville also appear in the video in question. The latter is waved at by a young Leeds fan, but he is mainly busy with his phone. Struijk then walks on with a fast walking pass towards the players bus.
Leeds United’s players ignoring their fans as they left the hotel this morning. A club that’s troubled on and off the pitch.
pic.twitter.com/ExAqo3Je9B— SPORTbible (@sportbible) April 30, 2023
Van der Gijp has also seen the video and can understand that the images have led to a lot of commotion in England. “That as a trainer you don’t say anything about that either,” he says Inside today. “Players have huge headphones on their heads, just sit on their phones. Then there is this little guy who asks for an autograph. This is really disgraceful, this is really disgraceful. This is the new normal. Total idiots walking by.”
The gentlemen all think they are movie stars,” Derksen then adds. “They don’t communicate with their audience and with their youth and then set a bad example on the field. They all walk around with those ‘ear muffs’. They should never criticize the supporters again.” Leeds, known as a real English people’s club, felt compelled to respond on Monday. “There are no words for the way a young fan wearing a Leeds shirt doesn’t get more love from the squad. There’s no excuse for ignoring fans. We would appreciate it if the parents of the boy in the video would contact us,” the club website said.
The young fan’s father, John Wale, has since responded. Talking to the Yorkshire Evening Post it turns out that Wale thinks the commotion on the internet is exaggerated. Apparently, his son Dylan has received attention from a number of players after all. “Dylan had a great day. Luke Ayling boxed him, Javi Gracia paid attention to him and Brenden Aaronson got his autograph. The footage only shows players ignoring Dylan. We are not happy that there has been a fuss about this.” Wale finds an apology superfluous. “Why do they have to say sorry? They are focused on the game and you are always expected to put your best foot forward. Everybody makes mistakes.”