Former Leeds United youth coach Greg Abbott believes being released from the Whites means that Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney is always keen to hurt the Yorkshire giants.
Cairney was 16 when he was released by the Leeds academy, but he bounced back at Hull City and went on to establish himself as a consistent performer in the Championship.
He has been at Fulham since 2015 and is currently the club captain as he and his side look to chase down Leeds for an automatic promotion spot this season.
There is regret around Leeds about Cairney’s development away from the club and Abbot admits that it was a surprise to see Leeds release him when they did.
But he did concede that such things do happen at academies and sometimes good players do slip through the fingers of clubs.
However, Abbott also believes that being released from Leeds did play a key role in pushing Cairney to prove himself somewhere else and gave him the edge he needed to succeed.
The former Leeds academy coach told The Athletic: “I was really surprised to hear he’d gone from Leeds because he was one of the best players we had there.
“You’d have to call it a mistake but it happens at academies and the time when you’re handing out scholarships — or in his case, not handing out scholarships — is terrible.
“Every time a player I worked with was released, I wanted them to prove me wrong. Academies give these things a lot of thought but they can’t get every decision right.
“Tom’s so determined in the way he thinks that (being released by Leeds) will have driven him massively.
“He’s a smashing lad but I’m sure he’ll feel like he wants to hurt Leeds every time he plays against them because they hurt him. There’s nothing wrong with that. You need to have an edge.”
Cairney will look to inflict hurt on his former side when Leeds visit Craven Cottage to take on Fulham
