Patrick Bamford had to correct one extraordinary rumour inside Leeds United | OneFootball

While playing at Elland Road on 2021, the Sheffield United striker had to dispel some incredible myths about his upbringing in a media interview.

Sheffield United's Patrick Bamford isn't cast from the same mould as most other professional footballers, and there have been points in the past at which he's had to correct the record about himself.

The last twelve months haven't been an especially happy time for the supporters of Sheffield United.

The team recovered from their atrocious start to the 2025-26 Championship season with the return of Chris Wilder, but the returning manager was unable to launch a successful bid for a play-off place, while this season's start hasn't torn up any trees either.

But it hasn't been all bad news for Blades fans. One of the high-spots of the last year or so has been the form of striker Patrick Bamford.

The former Leeds striker signed for Sheffield United on a short-term deal in November 2025, and such was his form that he was given an 18-month contract extension in January 2026. He has been banging in goals for them ever since.

Bamford is not cut from the same cloth as the overwhelming majority of professional footballers.

While most players come from solidly working-class backgrounds, Bamford's upbringing was considerably more comfortable, and this has led to him having to go on the record to correct some of the wilder things that have been said about him.

Patrick Bamford has had to fight misconceptions about his upbringing

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Speaking to journalist Andy Hunter of The Guardian at the start of the 2021-22 season, Patrick Bamford addressed some of the rumours that been circulating around Leeds United about his upbringing.

Bamford confirmed that many of the misconceptions about him based on the fact that he went to a public school were no more than gossip.

No, he stated, it was untrue that his father was a billionaire, while rumours that he was fluent in four languages and had rejected a scholarship at Harvard to play professional football were equally fabricated.

One that was correct, he confirmed, was that he had played rugby union at secondary school, though he explained that this was only because his school didn't offer association football as an option for him.

Bamford attended the fee-paying Nottingham High School, and he appreciated the benefits that came with this.

“The school I went to was brilliant and helped me more than a lot of people realise," he explained.

"When I was at Forest they sorted out a timetable so I wouldn’t miss too much school and my A-levels, but would still be able to train and play at Forest. I stopped playing rugby at 15, which was probably a good thing as everyone started getting bigger and stronger."

He also explained that the notion that his father was a billionaire was a rumour within a rumour, given that it was believed by some that the Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa had believed this to be the case.

In truth, though, it was a little more complicated than that.

"Bielsa didn’t think it but one of the coaches at Leeds who isn’t there anymore did. I can’t remember the exact words he used, but when we got promoted he said he was proud of how hard I worked considering my dad was a billionaire. I was like: ‘What are you on about?’"

Patrick Bamford's Sheffield United form has defied those who considered him "too soft" for professional football

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It says a lot about Patrick Bamford's injury problems while he played for Leeds United that, even though he stayed at Elland Road for seven years, he only made 207 appearances in all competitions for the club.

His Guardian interview came just twelve days after he'd signed a new five-year contract with the Elland Road club, but a combination of illness and injuries limited him to just ten appearances throughout the 2021-22 season.

And this wasn't an isolated bad season for him, either. He suffered a succession of injuries throughout his time with Leeds, though he left at the end of the 2024-25 season having scored 60 goals for them.

These problems may have been in the forefront of the minds of Sheffield United supporters when he signed for their club, but he's had few such issues with the Blades.

In 35 appearances for them, he's scored 16 goals, an excellent return, given that his team's form over that period has not been especially good.

Although Bamford's upbringing was unusual, it's not unique. The Crystal Palace midfielder Will Hughes attended the fee-paying Repton School in Derbyshire, while the former Chelsea star Victor Moses went to the Whitgift School in South London after being placed there by his former club, Crystal Palace.

And if anything, the explosion in player wages has only made it likely that there will be more in the future, because former players can now comfortably afford to have their children privately educated.

The Coventry City manager Frank Lampard attended the fee-paying Brentwood School, for example, because his father had enjoyed a successful playing career.

The perception certainly took hold that Bamford was "too soft" for professional football because of his injury issues, but the idea that somebody's physical robustness is determined by their social class is clearly nonsensical, and the striker has proved his detractors wrong so far, since he's been with Sheffield United.