'Fuel the fire' - Sam Byram issues 'desperate' Leeds United message with Whites assessment
Sam Byram has issued a determined Leeds United message ahead of the new Championship campaign, with ‘fuel to fire’ in the club’s new promotion bid.
Former Whites Academy graduate Byram returned to Leeds last summer upon leaving Norwich City and the full-back found himself one game away from helping the Whites to a Premier League return. That game, though, the richest game in football of the Championship play-off final ended in tears as Daniel Farke’s Whites suffered a 1-0 defeat to Southampton, resulting in another crack at the second tier next term.
Byram’s future had then been unclear due to the defender only re-joining Leeds on a one-year deal but the club have since exercised the option to extend the 30-year-old’s deal by another year. Byram is now delighted to be back but readily admits the pain of his side’s Wembley play-off final defeat will take some shifting.
Byram, though, has explained how actually embracing that feeling can help Leeds next term, the defender urging the Whites to use the heartbreak as ‘fuel to the fire’ for a squad now ‘desperate’ to seal promotion at the second attempt.
"Obviously, it's hard to get away from the huge disappointment,” said Byram to LUTV, asked how he reflected on last season. "I think losing in the playoff final is obviously something that will stick with everyone for quite a while. But I think as a team and as a club, we need to use that to fuel the fire to go again. Not many people get to say they played in the play-off final but overall, it was a very, very good season. We got 90 points, missed out by very, very, very small margins and I think we've just got to take what we've done well last year and take that into this year."
Pressed on the need to banish play-offs pain to the history books, looking afresh and new with a positive view for the new season, Byram declared: “Obviously it's difficult. But it can go one of two ways. You can dwell on it and and think what might have been, or you can use it to fuel the fire and build that hunger within. Speaking on behalf of everyone, everyone in there is desperate to get back to where we belong and the hard work starts now."