, Warnock notes added motivation for Bamba vs Leeds United

Warnock notes added motivation for Bamba vs Leeds United

Sol Bamba is not Pontus Jansson. He is, however, a player whose initial outings in a Leeds shirt had a similar effect to the magic-hatted Swedish defender.

Bamba, who had experienced English football before with the likes of Leicester City and Hibernian, also came to Leeds United via the same route as Jansson – a loan move from Serie A. Whereas Jansson joined on an initial loan, since made permanent, from Torino, Bamba arrived from Serie A side Palermo.

He arrived at Elland Road to join a Leeds United side that was creaking and, in brutal honesty, defensively inept. Like Pontus Jansson’s arrival, the 2015 part of the 2014/15 Sky Bet Championship campaign saw a change in fortune that many Leeds fans put downbeat to the ‘Bamba Effect’.

Starting at the turn of 2015, Leeds United began to pick up points with more regularity and show less of the defensive mad-cappery that had come to define Leeds United up until his arrival. Such was his efficacy and effect on the side that, come the season’s end, Whites fans installed Bamba as target #1 for the Whites to bring in for the 2015/16 season.

The Whites did this, supposedly beating off the challenge of Middlesbrough to get their man. However, crcks began to appear and fan favour changed, with some fans accusing Bamba’s game of having a creeping inconsistency to it. The assuredness that he applied with aplomb was accused by some of being a mere veneer, a varnish that was vanishing.

From hero to supposed villain was a short path that was frequently travelled Bamba, his performances coming in for increasing criticism. Fans were beginning to question whether he was the right man for the job.

Criticism began to mount and it became apparent at the start of this season, after two Championship and two EFL Cup appearances for Leeds United that he was becoming a footballing persona non gratia at the club.

Made a free agent by Leeds after leaving the club at the end of the summer transfer window on August 31 last year, the 49-cap Ivory Coast international signed for current club Cardiff on October 11.

For a while, a segment of the Leeds fanbase has been less than gracious about Sol Bamba and performances during his time at Elland Road. This is something that BBC Radio Leeds reporter says (below) that Bamba’s boss Neil Warnock is using as a means of motivating the big Ivorian.

Posted messages by Warnock and some Leeds fans or not, Sol Bamba is likely to receive warm support from a bumper 30,000+ crowd at Elland Road tomorrow upon his return to LS11. Bamba made 56 appearances for the Whites, scoring five times, and it will be this that most Leeds fans will remember.

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