'Carnage' - Premier League captain reveals Leeds United error and broken training ground rule
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The Cottagers' skipper was special guest on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football coverage of Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Nottingham Forest this week and discussed his time at Leeds, which preceded the lengthy professional career he has gone on to enjoy.
Nottingham-born Cairney joined Leeds' youth setup in 1998 at just seven years old but was let go by the Whites at 16 due to his size.
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Hide Ad"At eight, I think Leeds kind of took me off [Nottingham] Forest in a way, if you can say that, at eight, nine years old, something like that," Cairney recalled, alongside host David Jones and Jamie Carragher.
"I just remember coming home from school or something, and I was at Forest's academy at the time, when I was seven, and my dad said, 'You're going to Leeds'
"You just get in the car, you put your kit on. We drove up to Thorp Arch, which at them times, I think, you wasn't allowed to live an hour outside the training ground but we did.
"It was a bit chaos, my dad was a taxi driver at the time, so we used to break down on the way home. So that was carnage, but, yeah, the things you do and those are unbelievable memories I have."
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Hide AdUpon his release, Cairney joined Hull City's youth setup where he went on to make his professional debut for the Tigers in 2009. The now 33-year-old moved to Blackburn Rovers in 2014 after an initial loan spell before signing for Fulham a year later, where he has played ever since.
Now into his tenth season for the West London club, Cairney has racked up 340 appearances across all competitions and is currently Marco Silva's club captain at Craven Cottage. He has also been part of three promotion-winning campaign, each with Fulham.
Reflecting on his spell at Leeds, Cairney said: "I got released when I was 16. So, I was there from seven or eight until 16. I was a late developer, really late developer physically, so the academy said 'We haven't got the time to wait, for him to mature, can't get round the pitch, a little bit too physically weak.'
"The technical side I had, but always in youth football the strongest and fastest wins until everyone catches up," Cairney added.
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Hide AdThe Fulham skipper's release may now be deemed an error on Leeds' part, given the decorated career the midfielder has gone on to have, although the Thorp Arch academy has still produced some fine players over the years, including those in Cairney's position such as Lewis Cook and Kalvin Phillips, both of whom have represented England at full international level.
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