Leeds United were robbed and had what could have been their day in history stolen from them at the start of this month.
Captain Liam Cooper said the first weekend of May 2020 and 2019/20’s climax, was a tough period in his household.
Nobody can predict what may have followed in the eight matches between the Elland Road visits of Huddersfield Town and Charlton Athletic, but with United in form and top, many expected it to be a carnival and a coronation.
Cooper describes it like a robbery. After the sacrifices of the past two years, he feels the side were deprived of their day with fans and families alike.
“It was very difficult,” said Cooper. “It was really tough. It sort of felt like it had been stolen from us a little bit.
“That could have been our day and our moment to enjoy it with the fans and our families.
“We’ve so sacrificed so much, but we’re going to have to sacrifice more, sacrifice playing in front of our fans, sacrifice our families being able to watch us.
“The goal never changes. First and foremost we set out to be promoted and get back to the Premier League and that’s still our objective.
“We’ve got to go and finish that.”
Hull City were the only club in the Championship to return a positive result after the first batch of coronavirus tests were carried out at the end of last week.
Cooper underlined the relief of his and everyone else’s negative result at Thorp Arch.
Although, he admits the test itself is very unpleasant.
“It’s horrible, to be honest. I was gagging when I had to stick the swab to the back of my throat,” he said.
“Short and not very sweet, I’ll describe it as. In and out, really. It’s all done on the indoor. We don’t come into contact with anybody.
“It was all straightforward. We’re very lucky, as a group, in Rob [Price, head of medicine and performance] and Rishi [Dhand, club doctor] and Jamie [O’Shea, club doctor], they’ve been planning this for a long time.
“They don’t leave anything to chance, so, as a group, we’re in good hands and we’re as safe as we possibly can be.”
