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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
Sport
Richard Forrester

Former Bristol City favourite opens up on the stammer that has held him back off the pitch

Former Bristol City favourite Luke Ayling has bravely opened up on the stammer that made him shy away from interviews.

The Leeds right-back spent two hugely successful years at Ashton Gate, being part of the side that won the double in the 2014/15 campaign.

Ayling played every game as City secured promotion back to the Championship and spent one more season in BS3 totalling 80 league appearances before moving to the Whites for a mere £200,000 in 2016.

But while Ayling's career has continued to go from strength to strength in the Premier League, much to the delight of the City faithful, his speech impediment has been largely holding him back away from the pitch having to overcome his insecurities.

In an interview with BBC on MOTDx, Ayling revealed: "When I first came to Leeds I wasn't comfortable at all doing interviews.

"I have kind of got to a point now where I just don't care.

"If I do an interview and I have a stutter, I see a lot of things online where people say that I say then and like a lot.

"But that's my safety blanket kind of thing because I know I can get them words out.

"I see a lot of people who maybe don't know that I have got a stutter say 'all I can hear is then and like.'

"But I just got to a point where I just thought, 'do you know what, I am doing an interview with somebody who wants to speak to me and actually wants to hear what I have got to say so why am I scared to do it kind of thing because I shied away so long from doing it.

"But I still will go to a drive through and I will be sat in the drivers' seat and I still make my missus order it because I don't want to do it.

"I still have them insecurities. Obviously it's horrible because I sit here and I have got loads of things that I want to say but know I can't get them out so then I just rumble on.

"That's probably why I am quite loud in the dressing room and just don't care because I just say what I feel."

Ayling has spoken of his departure from BS3 in the past, revealing it was Lee Johnson's appointment and an injury that ended up forcing him to look elsewhere.

He told the Athletic: "I had a good first season and played every game under Steve Cotterill but then I got injured, Cotts got the sack (in January 2016) and Lee Johnson came in.

"I knew pretty much from the off that things weren't going to go well - from things around the training ground and things (Johnson) said to me.

"I was out of the squad or I was on the bench, sometimes getting the last five minutes of games. I knew I had to move to get football. I just never expected it to be Leeds, to be honest.

"As it happened, I started the first game of the (2016/17) season I left and played well. Then, on the Tuesday, they said, 'Look, you're getting sold'. 'Okay. Fair enough,'"

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