Since becoming owners of Leeds United, the 49ers have been incredible.

Our recruitment has been smart and ambitious, as we have won promotion from the Championship and established ourselves in the Premier League.

Plans are also in place to extend Elland Road. This will help Leeds United in our long-term aim of fighting near the top of the Premier League.

However, a perfect opportunity has arisen for the 49ers to make a small gesture of goodwill that will rebuild bridges with a former Leeds player.

49ers should invite James Milner back to Elland Road for a game

Former Leeds player and record Premier League appearance holder James Milner was recently a guest on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast. It is hosted by Paddy McGuinness and former Manchester United duo Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.

As a 16-year-old, Milner burst onto the scene for his boyhood club. However, following our relegation in 2004 and subsequent financial difficulties, we were forced to sell Milner to Newcastle for around £5million.

“I was more than happy to stay at Leeds, wanted to stay at Leeds,” Milner said.

Hot Topic

6 comments this week

“It was best for the club; they needed the money, so I went to Newcastle, fine. Leeds got to the play-off final that first year after I’d gone to Newcastle. So I contacted the club, wanting to go watch them.

“I said, ‘Can I come and watch the game? Yeah, yeah, we can get you some tickets, just let us know how you want to pay for them and all this,” the club replied at the time.

“I don’t have any hard feelings against the club. I love the club,” Milner continued.

“It’s the people who are in charge at the time. But yeah, it was just one of them. I’ve just not been since.”

In that same interview, Milner also revealed that he turned down the opportunity to join Manchester United when he left Manchester City, as he is “a Leeds fan through and through.”

Following his recent retirement and this interview, now seems like a perfect opportunity for the 49ers to rebuild bridges with Milner and invite him to an upcoming game at Elland Road. Milner still clearly loves the club, and we should reward this loyalty.

James Milner should be given some sort of coaching role at Leeds

After leaving Leeds, Milner would go on to become an England international and win virtually every trophy available to him during his spells at Man City and Liverpool. He also represented Aston Villa and Brighton.

But still, after all this time, it’s clear his heart lies with Leeds.

Every time he returned as a player, Milner received a tremendous reception from the Elland Road faithful. Rightly so, as one of our own.

Milner spent a remarkable 24 seasons in the Premier League. His last appearance for Brighton came when he was 40 at the end of last season. His remarkable professionalism and dedication would make him a real asset for Leeds to have back in some sort of coaching capacity.

According to the Liverpool Echo, Milner is casually working with Liverpool’s academy as he continues the development of his coaching career.

If Milner wants to take his coaching more seriously in the future, there’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t be looking at getting him back at Leeds. What an asset he’d be.

Even though everything behind the scenes has changed since Milner’s ticket problem with Leeds around 20 years ago, it’s still not a good look for the club. The 49ers should look to put this right ASAP.

0%
Love

0%
Funny

0%
Wow

0%
Sad

0%
Angry