Neil Warnock, Steve Evans, injuries, Leeds United regrets and Covid-19 - how bad timing has been the story of Chris Dawson's life in football

'Today my 15 years at lufc has come to an end, so many great memories to take away with me and would like to thank all the staff that have helped me progress throughout my time here, also couldn't ask for a better group of lads to have played with and I wish them all the best for the future.'

A Leeds fan since he was old enough to remember, a Leeds player since the age of six, he had just returned from a serious shoulder injury but was not considered part of the first-team plans by Steve Evans, the club's seventh manager since Dawson's senior debut in April 2013.

It was a wrench for the 21-year-old, leaving behind team-mates with whom he had walked the development path, like Alex Mowatt and Kalvin Phillips, who both replied to his tweet to say good luck.

With no prospect of being involved, his contract due to run out and a chance to join ex-Leeds coach Neil Redfearn at Rotherham, it felt like his only option. Attempting to wait Evans out risked going into the summer without a club.

So two days later he signed for the Millers, secretly hoping to somehow work his way back to Elland Road.

Just 126 days later, Evans was sacked by Leeds. Timing, as Dawson has learned repeatedly, is everything.

It has played a part in his story since he caught the eye of a Leeds scout at a Skylark football centre tournament playing for Dewsbury Rangers.

For a little boy with an Elland Road season ticket, playing for the Whites was a dream come true and he floated along nicely through the age groups.

"Coming through the ages I always felt like I was one of the top players in every side I played in, so I always believed I had a chance, the way I was progressing," he said.

Belief inspired progress which in turn inspired more belief, and a three-year pro deal to boot.

"I thought it was my big opportunity to get somewhere in the game."

He played for Richard Naylor's Under-18s in a golden age at Thorp Arch.

"It was me, Kalvin Phillips, Alex Mowatt, Lewis Cook, and Alex Purver who is in Sweden now," said Dawson.

"In the midfield, we had a diamond with Purver sitting, Kalvin and Mowatt and then me in front. Lewis was a bit younger and didn't break through straight away so wasn't guaranteed to play all the time.

"We won the Under-18s league by a mile."

By the time that title was won, Dawson was involved in Neil Warnock's first team, making the bench for three senior fixtures.

On April Fool's Day 2013, timing took over.

"I just remember walking into the changing room and all the lads were staring at me - I looked across at the board and my name was on there," he said. It was a shock, but it was no joke.

"Warnock knew he was leaving and said I deserved a game."

Dawson, a bag of nerves as he walked out onto the Elland Road pitch, settled into what felt like just another game for the only club he had ever known, playing 57 minutes of a 2-1 defeat to Derby County.

"The thing is, I'd done it my whole life, I didn't really know any different," he said.

"It came naturally because I'd travelled to Thorp Arch all my life, it was just the next step. It was what I had always wanted to do and I'd done it. At the time I thought, this will be it, it will stay like this."

But a shoulder operation had already put the brakes on, before Massimo Cellino rolled into town.

"That's when it all started turning into a circus," said Dawson.

"It was run so poorly, none of the lads knew what was going on, we had managers coming in nearly every month. One minute you were in a manager's plans, the next you weren't."

Dawson made three substitute appearances under Redfearn but his shoulder went again and by the time he was fit, Evans was in charge.

"He had never watched me play but said 'he's not in my plans, he can go if he wants' and I was gutted," said Dawson.

"He didn't speak to me about it, it just came out in the press.

"I found out over the internet, it might have been an LUTV interview.

"Given I had been around the first team for so long and was coming back from injury, it was so disappointing."

Dawson's dad and agent tried to find him a new club and with Redfearn in place at Rotherham, it seemed the best bet.

"I was hoping that another manager would come in and I'd get another chance, but I had to try and sort another club out," he said.

"Now I regret not waiting for the end of the season. Evans didn't stay and I might have got another deal.

"I didn't want to leave but felt I had to. It was just bad timing."

So too was Redfearn's February sacking. There was no game time at the New York Stadium so Dawson was loaned to Viking, in Norway, where he at least enjoyed some football.

When he returned in December, six months remained on his contract.

"My agent thought they were going to give me another year, but I turned awkwardly while playing for the reserves and did my ACL. It was the worst pain I've ever had."

Rotherham decided not to offer that new deal. Timing. Again.

"I was heartbroken, thinking that's probably it, I won't play again," he said.

"My contract ran down and I went in to do the rehab but I wasn't earning any money. I just watched my money drain away to nothing.

"It was probably the hardest point in my life. I didn't really know what to do."

Dawson began working for his dad as a painter and decorator and in March 2018 gave football another go.

He knew a player at Northern Premier League Scarborough Athletic and managed to play the final few games of the season.

The 2018/19 season was spent as a National League North Bradford Park Avenue player, out on loan with Northern Premier League Grantham Town.

"I was struggling in games, I felt absolutely shattered constantly and didn't get going at all with Park Avenue," he said.

"I played the first 10 or 15 games, I didn't do badly, I just didn't feel anywhere near as fit as I used to and found it more and more difficult.

"Towards the back end of the season, with Grantham, I began to feel much better, like the impact of the injury was finally wearing off."

Back at Scarborough and hoping to kick on again, he tore his groin. And then the world came to a halt.

"I didn't play again until coronavirus hit, so that was me done at Scarborough," he said.

"We got told the league was going to be cancelled, we all agreed to cancel our contracts."

Buxton, launching an ambitious plan for back-to-back promotions, brought Dawson in last summer alongside fellow ex-Leeds man Matt Kilgallon.

"This season is the best I've felt for a long time," he said.

"Once the season got the go ahead we were playing twice a week and we started well, sitting third in the table with a game in hand to go top.

"Then Covid hit again, stopping the league. Now I'm at a standstill. I feel good but I can't play football."

Timing. Always timing.

Dawson and his Buxton team-mates are furloughed. He's running to keep fit and once a week on a Thursday the Bucks have a team fitness session on Zoom.

The Northern Premier League stopped in early November. It might not restart.

"Most clubs are voting to declare it null and void again so that seems likely," said Dawson.

"I'm actually fit for the first time in three or four years and all I can do is a 5k or a 10k run.

"Keeping fit is the only thing that keeps your head right during these times, or you're just sitting at home staring at walls."

Those walls are adorned with his Leeds shirt from the Derby game and a Wales Under-21 shirt and cap.

He hasn't thrown away the tracksuits he wore from Under-9s all the way through at Leeds. Nor has he cast aside aspiration.

But if bad injuries and bad timing has taught him anything, it is to enjoy his next game, whenever it comes.

"I'm 26 now but I still want to play at the highest level I possibly can," he said.

"At first it was hard to get my head around because I always believed that I should be playing at a much higher level.

"Matt Kilgallon is in our team and listening to what he's done, I wish I'd done something similar.

"I watch all of Kalvin's games, the improvements he has made are massive. He's one of the best sitting midfielders in the Premier League now, which is mad, so nice to see.

"I still feel a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to progress.

"I always felt I was good enough to stay, I just needed the manager to believe in me basically. Redders always believed in me and backed me. I probably would have got the chance if he had stayed.

"It was so hard to stay involved, with all the managers coming and going, when you weren't an established player.

"You can't always prevent injuries but I wish I could have been part of what Leeds are going through now. I'm happy for them, I've always wanted them to do well, so I can't really complain.

"It just hasn't worked out for me.

"I've played so few games in the last few years that now I just try to be happy when I'm playing, feeling fit and feeling good.

"You miss it like mad, though. I can't wait to get back playing."