Brian Deane reveals weight of expectation behind difficult spell at Leeds United - Leeds Live 23/9/22

Deane joined Leeds for a club record fee of £2.9million in June 1993.

In his mind, Brian Deane had reached the promised land when he signed on the dotted line to join his hometown club Leeds United in 1993.

The Whites had paid a club record £2.9million to prise him away from Sheffield United and Deane headed to Elland Road off the back of a goal-laden campaign 36 miles down the M1 at Bramall Lane.

Deane notched 11 goals in his debut campaign in West Yorkshire and a further nine times in his second season as Leeds registered back-to-back fifth place finishes. However, by his own admission, the former England international says the weight of expectation was something he'd never experienced before.

"Yes [I did feel the pressure], because Leeds had won the title a couple of years before and I was signed to try to help them do it again," Deane told FourFourTwo.

He added: "I was also a Leeds lad and still live there, so I had pressure from people I grew up with who loved Leeds. I never had that much expectation at Sheffield United, as I was young and making my name in football.

"I didn’t show my best at Leeds, sadly. I went in there thinking I’d made it a little bit. I was slightly cocky and stopped doing the basics I’d got right in Sheffield. I didn’t look after my body as well and my game dipped."

Howard Wilkinson was sacked less than a month into the 1996/97 season following a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester United in September 1996. He was replaced by George Graham, who often deployed Deane as a winger as opposed to his natural role at centre-forward.

Although Deane had also played out wide under Wilkinson, his goal scoring figures dropped under Graham, although he still concluded the season as United's joint-leading scorer in the Premier League with a mere five goals. Deane returned to his former club Sheffield United in the summer of 1997 and believes his sacrifice for the team was often overlooked.

"I was played out of position a lot," Deane revealed. "I was a striker and wanted to score goals, but I went wide for the team because I simply wanted to play.

"Sometimes people talked about my goal record and said I wasn’t scoring enough, but I wasn’t playing up front so that was difficult to take. It was frustrating because I felt like my sacrifice for the team was overlooked at times."

Deane returned to Leeds during the twilight of his career after taking in spells at Benfica, Middlesbrough, Leicester City and West Ham United respectively.

He struggled to make an impact in his second spell but did score four times in a 6-1 thrashing of Queens Park Rangers in November 2004.

After a brief spell at Sunderland and a short adventure in Australia with Perth Glory, Deane hung up his boots after a third and final spell with the Blades in 2006.