"They tore into me" - Nahki Wells on Leeds United supporters | OneFootball

"They tore into me" - Nahki Wells on Leeds United supporters | OneFootball

In partnership with

Yahoo sports
Icon: Football League World

Football League World

·26 October 2024

"They tore into me" - Nahki Wells on Leeds United supporters

Article image:"They tore into me" - Nahki Wells on Leeds United supporters

Approaching the twilight of his career, Nahki Wells is a seasoned pro, but he recently told how Leeds fans gave him particularly harsh treatment

For a 34-year-old Nahki Wells who's played in each of the top four English leagues, there's not much in football he hasn't seen or heard.


OneFootball Videos


But in the last week he spoke of how he got a particularly not-so-warm welcome from Leeds United fans, perhaps due to his strong links across Yorkshire football.

Wells has played the lion's share of his career in the White Rose county, racking up in excess of 250 appearances across spells with Huddersfield Town and Bradford City.

It was at Bradford where the diminutive striker first made his name, scoring 53 times in 112 appearances to give him an impressive strike rate of almost a goal every two games.

The Bermudan was a member of the Bradford City squad who reached the 2012/13 EFL Cup final and proved key in the Bantams taking huge scalps along the road to Wembley.

His success earned him a brief shot at the Premier League with Burnley, but Wells believes that those Yorkshire moves perhaps earned him the hostile reception he often got at Elland Road.

Leeds fans' misconception has shone Wells in a bad light

Article image:"They tore into me" - Nahki Wells on Leeds United supporters

Wells spoke of a common misconception about his career path recently, with Leeds fans believing that he had turned them down in 2014 in favour of a move to Huddersfield.

The Bristol City striker claims that is far from the truth though, insisting that he was never as much as offered the chance to sign for the Yorkshire giants.

"I’ve always had it really bad with Leeds fans and the way they target me.

"It seemed I’d chosen Huddersfield over Leeds when leaving Bradford which didn’t go down too well but if only they knew the truth.

For all the stick he's taken from Leeds fans down the years, Wells still insisted that he'd have jumped at the opportunity to pull on the famous white shirt.

"I didn’t even have the option to snub Leeds and this has been my little secret but I’d actually have jumped at the chance to play for them.

"I’ve never said this before and I ain’t gonna lie, the first impressions really hit me hard and I sat there thinking I’d really love to play for this club.

"They were League One at the time and living in the city, seeing their players out and about, I felt envious. I badly wanted to play for Leeds but it wasn’t to be."

Leeds could've had a prolific EFL striker

Article image:"They tore into me" - Nahki Wells on Leeds United supporters

While Wells claims Leeds never showed an interest in signing him, they may look back now and wish they had, as Wells has been one of the more prolific EFL scorers over the last decade.

With Leeds being stuck in the Championship for most of that decade, a player like Wells could've been the difference between getting out of the league and another season of second tier obscurity.

Wells has incredibly scored in 15 of the last 16 EFL campaigns across any one of the three divisions, which is not only testament to his professionalism and how he looks after his body, but the pedigree he has at this level, as nine of those seasons saw him post double figures.

He was never able to make that step up to the top-flight, failing to make any notable impact in a failed spell with Burnley, but Wells will forever be regarded as one of the great EFL strikers.

View publisher imprint