Simon Grayson insists Andy O'Brien will never represent the club again after refusing to play in their dramatic comeback victory at Burnley.
United win overshadowed by fall-out with centre-half
Leeds manager Simon Grayson insists Andy O'Brien will never represent the club again after refusing to play in their dramatic comeback victory at Burnley.
O'Brien has made just three Championship appearances this season and has been targeted by the Leeds boo-boys but Grayson previously claimed he would not consider allowing the defender to leave on loan.
However, the Leeds boss admits O'Brien no longer has a future at the club after the 32-year-old former Newcastle and Bolton man told him on Friday he never wanted to appear for Leeds again.
"Andy O'Brien came to me on Friday and said that he no longer wanted to play for this football club," said Grayson after the 2-1 win at Turf Moor.
"It came as a shock on Friday but he won't play for this football club again as long as I am here.
"It came as a shock, especially after I have backed him publicly and privately over the last few weeks.
"As manager, I have the right in the early parts of the season to take players out of the team and bring others in.
"I have said that Andy had trained well and did enough to get back into the team against Leicester.
"He said he didn't want to play then but I said I needed him to and I thought he played well.
"I don't want to say too much about the circumstances just now but we will decide internally what happens now and make a statement next week."
On the pitch Robert Snodgrass scored twice in the final 15 minutes to eclipse Jay Rodriguez's 10th minute strike for Burnley.
"On the match, we were lucky to still be in the game at half-time and our keeper made one or two good saves," added Grayson.
"Burnley dominated us in the first half but we said at half-time that we needed to up the tempo.
"Once we got the equaliser, I felt we could go on and win the game because we had the presence of the Leeds fans trying to suck the ball into the net."
Clarets view
Burnley boss Eddie Howe insisted his side were unfortunate to be defeated.
"I thought for the majority of the game, if not the full 90 minutes, we were excellent," said Howe, who lost leading scorer Charlie Austin to a dislocated shoulder.
"We looked good going forward and we tested their keeper regularly. Leeds are a good side so we were pleased with that.
"Lee Grant only had one save to make yet he is having to pick the ball out of the back of the net.
"There are a lot of positives to take but individual mistakes have cost us again.
"Now is the time to show strength of character because it is a difficult run that we are on. I still believe in this group of players.
"It was a massive blow losing Charlie Austin. He said he felt it pop straight away so it is a big blow for us.
"Sam Vokes has come in and been welcomed into the group and I thought he did well."
