Leeds United hero Stuart Dallas on Jack Grealish, Marcelo Bielsa contact, best pal and Whites fans

The Northern Ireland international sat down with the local media on Wednesday afternoon just an hour after announcing his retirement from the professional game. Although he will remain at Thorp Arch until the end of the season rehabbing the injury he sustained in April 2022, Dallas has come to terms with the fact that he will not play again. He addressed a range of topics, from his decision to those who have supported him through it and the key characters in a career that included huge highs in a Leeds shirt. This is what Dallas had to say...

On his decision to retire

"I genuinely believe we've the best medical team in the country here. And I've had long discussions with with them, with my family, close friends. I'm not silly, I've played the game long enough to understand the situation that I'm in. I knew at the very start how complex the injury was. All along, I never lost hope. If I'm being honest, I always believed that I could get back, but more so over the last couple of weeks and months, I've realised that it was going to be really, really difficult. There's so many medical terms and so many setbacks that I've had as well - if you knew the half of it, you'd be pretty shocked. I've had the medical advice, Rob [Price, head of medicine and performance] and Henry [McStay, physio] and Ruben [Crespo] who's my rehab coach, and all the physios, doctors, the surgeons in London. You know, we've all been on the same page, and they've been very honest with me and I've been honest with them and how I've felt and they can only advise me at the end of the day, then it's my decision as well. I know what my body can take and what it can't take, I've played through a lot of injuries throughout my career, especially in the last couple of years, but this was just one step too far for me and my body just won't allow me to do what it needs to do, to get back to play on an elite level. Chasing them boys around training seems a million miles away, but I needed to be at a certain level and I just can't get to that level."

On Liam Cooper

"I remember the first day I walked in when I signed here and I met Liam in the canteen and from then we just hit it off, probably took me under his wing at that stage and really helped. It's not easy when you go into a new club but having somebody that I had a connection with and from then our families have grown together. His wife and my wife are best friends, the kids are best friends growing up together. He won't acknowledge, he won't accept it, he'll palm it off because that's the type of person he is, but he has done a lot for me. And I have a really, really close relationship with him, it goes further than football. He's like a brother to me and he's got a beautiful family and my kids are growing up with his and it's nice. It's somebody who I'll obviously be best friends with for life and I'm happy that obviously I met him and his family."

On his kids' reaction

"My daughter she understands, my boys are a bit young, five and six, and they probably don't know how big it really is. They understand what's happening. They're just thinking I'm gonna spend more time at home with him. So they're quite happy. In years to come they'll look back on the memories and they still come up to me with the iPad and show me the goals at Man City and stuff like that. I'm glad that they have been able to see me play. Whether they grasp that, whether they know how big it is, I don't know, but I told I only told them a couple of days ago and just like it's more like 'Yeah. Cool story.'"

On the city and the fans

"The club and the fans - listen, it's hard to put into words and describe what they mean to me. My own family, my kids have grown up here, they've been born here and I have three beautiful kids that love Leeds. The city itself the people around here that have taken to me, they mean a lot to me, of course they do. I'll be here, this is where I live, I can't really put into words what they mean. I just thank them for for how they've been with me because they've stuck by us through thick and thin. Obviously at the start when I first signed here, it was a difficult moment. The club was a bit of a mess looking back on it now and how that has transformed and the fans the way they've stuck with us, the messages of support I've got over the last couple of years it's been absolutely unbelievable, a bit overwhelming, to be honest."

On Marcelo Bielsa

"What he's done for me, again, on and off the pitch, the transformation and the belief, made us see the game differently, made us read the game differently, made us live our lives differently. And at the start, it was difficult at times to adjust to that but my God am I so grateful to him now for that. A wonderful, special man who has been pivotal to my career and words probably can't thank him enough. Being the person he is, again, he won't acknowledge that because he'll think it was all down to myself. But at the end of the day it was down to him and his staff.

He's been in touch [since the injury]. He's a man of few words as you'll know but obviously when he gets going he can talk for a while when he's trying to get his point across, but he has been in touch with me, his staff have been in touch with me and whether now when the announcement's out, he gets in touch with me I don't know, I haven't even looked at my phone since because the messages will be unbelievable. But yeah, he was great for me. Whether or not he gets in touch with me, I'll get in touch with him because I'll thank him, obviously personally for what he's done for me."

On Michael O'Neill

"I have to give him special mention because he's been great with me, believed in me at a time when a lot of people didn't and continued to play me in international games even when things weren't going well here at Leeds and that gave me belief because that showed I could play at the highest level and again, I'm very, very thankful to Michael. Disappointed I can't play for him again because, you know, when he come back in obviously, I was excited to get working with him again. That hasn't happened but I've had conversations with him over the last few weeks and again, he's somebody who has put my mind at ease as well in terms of the decision that I've made."

On Jack Grealish

"No bitterness, listen it's part of football. I probably went into that challenge so many times and I've just tried to intercept the ball and obviously Jack's come across me. He contacted me straightaway after that, when I was in the hospital and has been in contact since and there's no bitterness, I think it's just part of the game and unfortunately I came off worse and that's it really, but no bitterness at all. He's been great, honestly, that first week he contacted me a few times and you never know down the line I'll probably share a drink with him at some stage - and we both like our drinks at the right time."

On what might be next

"We'll see what lies ahead. A few things that I need to figure out, I need to take time now and this is why I've made the announcement, I've wanted to have something to focus on because it was a bit cloudy over the last few weeks and months because I haven't known what was really going on. I'll take time to sit down and think about what's next, speak to the people closest to me. I have a few things that I'm interested in. We'll see what the future holds. The club have obviously spoke to me and I need to have some discussions with them. I'm going to be around this area so staying involved in the club is a possibility and they're keen, it's something I need to talk to them about, but I think first and foremost, I've got to take time, reflect on on things and recharge the batteries."