Fulham captain Tom Cairney has admitted that he really has happy memories of being in the Leeds United academy despite getting released by the club when he was only 16.
The 33-year-old is the now club captain at Fulham and has made 329 appearances for the west London club since joining the team in 2015.
However, Cairney started out his career in the Leeds academy and is seen as one of the players who slipped through the system at Elland Road.
Despite an accomplished career in the Championship and the Premier League, the midfielder failed to make the cut at Leeds and was released from their youth set-up when he was only 16.
He went on to play for Hull, and Blackburn and eventually ended up at Fulham where he has spent the last nine years.
However, the veteran midfielder has no hard feelings towards Leeds and is keen to look back at this time there fondly.
Tom Cairney reveals he has happy memories of the Leeds United academy
The midfielder was released in 2007 but he admitted that Leeds were the ‘poster boys’ of producing talent from the academy during that era with players such as James Milner and Aaron Lennon coming out of their system.
He conceded that it was an amazing time at Leeds and when he was in the academy the Whites were playing at the top level with some big players wearing their colours.
Cairney insisted that he only has happy memories of his time at the club despite not making the cut.
“They were producing the likes of Alan Smith, James Milner, Aaron Lennon. They were the poster boys at the time”, Cairney said on The Joy of Football podcast.
“It was an amazing time to be at Leeds, to be honest with you. They were in the Champions League, do you remember the time with Rio Ferdinand, Mark Viduka, Kewell, [and] Lee Bowyer?
“They were really happy memories.”
Cairney has gone on to have a solid career, making 440 combined appearances in the Championship and the Premier League and is still a key part of the Fulham squad.
