Barry Douglas: I signed for Leeds and never looked back

Barry Douglas: I signed for Leeds and never looked back

Leeds United defender Barry Douglas sits down to answer your question!

As part of Deliveroo's new series #Ask, fans were asked to put forward their questions for Leeds United defender Barry Douglas. We caught up with the man himself, and he answered as many as possible over 20 minutes.

Read some of his answers below, or watch the full episode now:

How are you finding lockdown?

To be fair we've stuck to a routine so obviously we have our individual programmes that the club has been sending us, so we've been doing that daily. Then, after that I've been trying to do a bit of yoga to keep loose, bit of meditation, and then a million jigsaws with Kaidyn. So yeah, we've been kept quite busy.

If you weren't a footballer, what would you be doing instead?

Tricky question. I do have my refrigeration and engineering papers, so possible could have kept with that. It was a good trade, hard, but good money to be made.

Refrigeration engineering? How did that come about?

I knew a guy through football who was the boss of a company that specialised in that and I got in touch with him. I was playing football part-time and never really saw it going into a career, so my grandpa was always saying to me to make sure I had a trade that I could fall back onto if football doesn't work out. I did that for three years, so I was kind of lucky in a sense that I went professional football when I was 18 or 19, which was quite late. I had good guidance from my grandpa.

How did you end up in Poland?

The opportunity just arose. I was coming to the end of my contract with Dundee United, we had been speaking about a new contract and then interest came from Lech Poznan. To be honest I never really knew anything about them or Polish football, but I went over to see the place with my agent, kept an open mind and the facilities were incredible. No disrespect to Dundee United but the facilities were far superior, so it was really appealing to go give that a try and experience a new culture, a new league, a new lifestyle. Thankfully it was a successful time.

You then played for Konyaspor, what was that like as an experience?

Yeah, one extreme to another. Again, there was interest and I think at that point my mindset was really about trying new things, staying out of my comfort zone. I could have gone back to the UK, Scotland, England, but we fancied something different and after going out to see the place, the project was appealing, different club, different ambitions, different challenge, and again it was another successful time, managing to be part of their history. It was a great life experience as well as football experience.

Do you think more British players should play abroad?

If the opportunity arose, yeah absolutely. I don't think it's as easy nowadays because the chances don't happen as often as you'd like, but if you're looking for a different challenge, then yeah 100% recommend trying it. You're only going to grow, even if it doesn't work out, you're going to experience new lifestyles, cultures, languages, so it'll stand you in good stead. There's not many Glaswegian boys who can speak Polish and Turkish.

Favourite takeaway?

Probably when I go to visit the family back up Scotland, my go to is a chippy. I need to get a fish and chips, they're just not the same in England as they are in Scotland. Maybe in Scotland it's more grease, more fried, but I always look forward to one of them when I go back home.

How did your move to Leeds come about?

Very fast to be honest. I started pre-season with Wolves, there was a lot happening with it being on the back of winning the Championship, a crazy summer with the birth of Kaidyn, so it was all go. Nuno came and spoke to me, said this is the plan for the club moving forward, we've had an offer from Leeds, we're going to accept it, but ultimately it's up to you. I had to quickly make the decision, signed for Leeds and never looked back. It was a really big ambitious project, and another chance to hopefully go on and achieve success. If it wasn't for the pandemic, who knows what we would be doing right now but hopefully we can take up where we left off.

Best stadium you've played in?

Obviously I need to say Elland Road for the atmosphere and the fans. Beyond that, I think Besiktas had a really hostile but nice modern stadium. I buzzed off the hostility, and it holds good memories.

Which teammate would you trust most to babysit?

Good question! From this Leeds squad, there's a number of us, it's big daddy day care, we've all seemed to have kids at the same age, so I think we're all on the same level when it comes to looking after the kids. I could tell you who I wouldn't want to leave it with, not on bad terms, but probably G (Alioski), because if I left my kid with him for an hour, he'd come back an absolute terror full of energy.

Who would you choose to do an escape room with and why?

I'd probably say Pat, he's quite knowledgeable. Saying that his common sense is non-existant but he's very knowledgeable so he could be clever in the escape room. Adz (Forshaw) is quite clever as well, Ben White absolutely not, one million per cent not, you'd be stuck in there for weeks. Fantastic football player but zero common sense. Who else? Pablo is quite clever I would imagine, probably most of the senior guys, Luke, Stu. If you want entertainment take Alioski in there, you wouldn't get out, but he'd keep you entertained. 

Favourite team growing up?

I grew up watching Rangers, my family was from Pollock, which is five minutes from there. My uncle also lived in London, so when I went down to visit, he stayed two minutes from Highbury, and we went to a few games there. So Arsenal were probably the first English team I liked growing up, and I always remember talking to Ian Wright.

Favourite player growing up?

My favourite was probably Brian Laudrup. He just dazzled players with the ball, and I think that is what made me love football, just seeing his skills and the way he played. I think that generation at Rangers were amazing, Jörg Albertz, Paul Gascoigne came, so there was some great players to look up at and aspire to be like.

What do you love most about Scotland?

Irn Bru! Irn Bru is probably my favourite. Obviously friends and family are there, it's home, but as a material, probably Irn Bru is my favourite thing about Scotland?

Do you like haggis?

Yeah, along with Irn Bru it's another tremendous thing to come from Scotland

Favourite film?

Yeah I've got a few. Will Smith makes it into a few of them, Pursuit of Hapiness, Seven Pounds. I think my favourite though is Man on Fire with Denzel Washington, I love that film and if I'm struggling for something to watch, it's always the go to.

Who enjoys Rhythm Time more? You or Kaidyn?

Haha it varies depending on what kind of mood he's in, but again we've stuck to it as part of our daily routine. I think it is brilliant to get that family time between the three of us to bond, have a bit of enjoyment and just forget about everything that's gone on with the outside world. So I'd say it's probably equal because I enjoy it just as much as he does.

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