If Sam Byram’s association with Leeds United ends this summer after six seasons, he has made his peace with achieving a childhood dream by returning his club to the top flight.
Byram spoke to The Athletic on Plymouth Argyle’s Home Park pitch last Saturday, with his team-mates and the travelling Leeds fans in the background celebrating after a stoppage-time winner secured the Championship title.
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The 31-year-old is emotional and, unhelpfully for an interview, almost lost for words as he reflects on what this all means.
Being brought back to the club for a second spell by Daniel Farke in summer 2023 was not something he ever expected after leaving for West Ham United more than seven years earlier.
The lifeline has given him the chance to find closure on what he set his mind to as a teenager under Neil Warnock, Neil Redfearn, Brian McDermott, Dave Hockaday, Darko Milanic, Uwe Rosler and Steve Evans. That roll call of managers underlines Leeds’ improvement between Byram’s departure to east London and the club’s Marcelo Bielsa-led Premier League promotion in 2020.
“The first time I was there, we were quite a way off this sort of season and to be able to celebrate like this,” Byram says. “It’s been a childhood dream of mine, and it’s finally come true.
“It’s gone right down to the final game, right down to the wire, but the last-minute goal sums up our character all year. Credit to the whole squad, the whole team, it’s been an unbelievable year and, as well as last year, the most enjoyable of my career.”
Byram was fighting unsuccessfully to keep Norwich City in the Premier League under Farke when Bielsa was taking Leeds to that EFL title. He admits it hurt him not to be a part of the side that ended the club’s 16-year exile from the top flight.
Byram playing in the Premier League for Norwich in April 2022 (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Leeds had finished 13th, 15th and 15th in the second tier in the first three full seasons Byram completed at Elland Road. He was one of the few high-fliers in that middling team and felt he could not wait any longer to make the leap to the big time when West Ham came calling in January 2016.
“At the time, I was desperate to make my Premier League debut and that was the reason I went,” he says. “When I saw Leeds get promoted a few years later, it hurt that I wasn’t part of that. So to come back, unexpectedly and throughout the last two years we’ve had, it’s been amazing.”
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Yes, about that unexpected return…
Byram was a free agent in the summer of 2023 after his Norwich contract expired. In the seven and a half years since leaving Leeds, he had played just 80 league games for West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Norwich — at an average of around 11 per season. The full-back had sat out 75 per cent of league games following that 2016 transfer.
Bringing someone with that injury record, which includes long-standing hamstring issues and a 2018 knee operation, into Leeds’ squad could only be seen as a risk.
Farke had faith, however, and has since carefully guided Byram through two years which have delivered 1,933 and 1,409 league minutes respectively. The defender has not played that frequently since leaving Elland Road more than nine years ago.
“Including the last spell here, and these last two years, I’ve played more than the rest of my career combined,” says Byram. “I’ve loved every minute. It’s an incredible dressing room and staff, everyone at the club. The fans are incredible, it’s been nothing but great memories, some I’ll cherish forever.”
Of the 317 senior appearances he has made in all competitions, 219 have been in a Leeds shirt. Farke has been the key in this second act in West Yorkshire. The German took Byram to Carrow Road from West Ham in summer 2019, then brought him home two years ago.
The Thorp Arch academy graduate is eternally grateful.
“I’ve not said it to him, but he’s probably saved my career in a way,” Byram says of Farke. “The last year at Norwich and over a few seasons there, I’d had an incredible amount of injuries. For him to give me a chance to come back and be involved in something like this, I’ll never be able to repay him. For me to be back at my boyhood club and be able to play and be involved, it’s amazing.”
Byram first emerged as a teenager under Warnock in 2012-13. He came through the ranks with current team-mate Alex Cairns, but also Alex Mowatt, Charlie Taylor, Kalvin Phillips, Lewis Cook and Lewie Coyle.
Byram playing for Leeds in January 2014 (Tony Marshall/Getty Images)
That group are forever bonded as some of the brightest hopes the club brought through following 2004’s relegation from the top flight. Byram was asked if his former colleagues had been in touch as Leeds pushed for promotion.
“They’ve all said they’re unbelievably happy,” he says. “Some of them are quite hard to get hold of now (laughs). Leeds lads, it’s what you hope for. I said, ‘If I’m not here next year, I’ll watch every game with enjoyment’. When you come through Leeds, you follow them for the whole of your career. It’s something you can’t take out of yourself.”
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Will he be a spectator or participant, though? His contract expires on June 30, and Leeds are moving back up to face far sterner opposition than they’ve had to deal with in his two seasons back at the club in the Championship. Byram is hopeful, but ready to cheer them from on from afar if that’s his fate.
“We’ve been working as a team to achieve promotion,” he said. “That’s been the key focus. I’ve not hidden my love for the club and I’d love to stay next year. They know that.
“Now we’ve achieved the final target, I’m sure they’ll speak as a team, investors, everyone, and make a plan for the future. Hopefully, I’m part of that, and, if not, I’ll watch on and always be a supporter.”
(Top photo: Steven Paston/PA Images via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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