It’s unclear exactly what Luke Ayling’s final words were as he left Ashton Gate for the last time in August 2016, bound for Leeds United, but it’s not outrageous to suggest that he may well have chanted some kind of ancient scripture.
Persona non grata after his involvement with indiscretions at the Cheltenham Festival and Lee Johnson’s apparent distrust in his reliability at Championship level, there was a school of thought at the time that the Robins actually did quite well in extracting £750,000 for a right-back who was great going forward but supposedly a defensive liability.
Even taking into account Leeds’ issues in the Premier League out of possession, that’s an opinion that has aged like milk because since Ayling left the club, it’s been a problem area and one neither Johnson, Dean Holden and now Nigel Pearson have been able to fix.
