A half-naked Neil Warnock and never visiting Leeds: Former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Chris Kirkland opens up on assault incident

A lot has changed up there in the last seven or eight years, in fact. There’s a casino, revamped nightlife and a flashy music arena. But the former Sheffield Wednesday keeper won’t see any of it.

After an October 2012 incident saw a 21-year-old Leeds United supporter jailed for running on to the Hillsborough turf and assaulting him, as a precaution, Chris Kirkland simply doesn’t go to Leeds.

“After the incident, it was advised that I stay well away from ever going into Leeds,” he told The Star. “The police have advised me never to do that.”

It’s footage that shocks even today. The match, an early-season Championship derby, saw the ambitious Whites travel down to South Yorkshire to take on a Dave Jones-led Wednesday side that had slipped into the relegation zone after 10 matches.

The match had been scheduled to take place on a Friday night. Regrettable chanting from both sets of supporters was picked up on the Sky TV cameras that had shifted the scheduling and issues had been reported in the city centre prior to kick-off.

It felt like an unnecessary risk from the outset. It’s worth noting that clashes between the two clubs do not take place on an evening anymore.

“The game should never have been on a Friday night in the first place,” Kirkland remembers to The Star. “The authorities got that one really wrong.

“I didn't see him until the last minute. Looking back, I was more disappointed with letting the goal in, because it was an equaliser late on. I was down and dejected and saw the lad at the last second.

“It did hurt. I got a bit of whiplash, my neck went back quite badly and it was sore. But it was more the shock and not knowing what happened until I saw it after. Obviously, being right in front of the Leeds fans it was hostile, very hostile.

“It was a huge shock, but it was more for my family really. My daughter saw it. It’s something that should never, ever have happened.”

The goal in question, a 77th-minute equaliser by former Sheffield United midfielder Michael Tonge, cancelled out Jay Bothroyd’s first-half opener to lock the score at 1-1. But given the nature of what followed, it was hardly relevant.

It was ironic in some ways that Leeds were led at the time by Wednesday pantomime villain Neil Warnock, who would go on to apologise for his snap reaction to the incident when quizzed by the media after the match.

Writing in a newspaper column some days after the incident Warnock wrote: “One of our staff said he'd been hit by a fan but ‘it looked like he went down easy’.

“When the match finished, TV wanted to interview me straight away and, like a fool, I actually repeated this when they asked me about the incident.”

His phone buzzed and within seconds his wife, watching on television, had relaid the severity of the situation. Warnock, concerned he has chosen his words poorly, requested his media team clip up the footage for him to review and reached for a towel. A few minutes later he was in the clutches of a furious Kirkland.

“I had a shower, as I usually do after a match,” Warnock said. “I came out, saw the incident on the computer, and immediately realised the guy had really lunged at Chris and it was no wonder he went down. I thought I'd better get dressed and go and apologise to him.

“As I was standing there in my briefs with a towel the door opened, a furious Chris Kirkland pushed his way in and grabbed hold of me. He's a big lad and but for the intervention of one or two of our staff he might have done something he regretted.

“But I honestly couldn't blame him. I'd have felt the same if it had been the other way around. I apologised to him unreservedly.”

Warnock too lambasted the scheduling of the match and alongside Leeds United called for a custodial sentence of the culprit, who would serve 16 weeks. Kirkland accepted what he described as a genuine apology from Warnock.

“The last 15 minutes were a blur and my head was all over really,” Kirkland said. “It all kicked off after the game, within minutes I was being interviewed by the police.

“It's a bit of a blur. My wife was there, so was a good friend of mine, one of the media advisors at Liverpool who was advising me on what was going to happen, and obviously we had the guys at the club as well. It was mad after the game and for a few days and weeks after.”

But the torment went on. England-capped Kirkland received anonymous threats leading up to the return match at Elland Road, a 2-1 Owls defeat in April for what was Brian McDermott’s first match as United boss after Warnock’s sacking. It was a lunchtime kick-off.

“They had to put security up at the hotel because there was a threat made that someone was coming for me there,” Kirkland said.

“Then at the game there was police either side of the goal. They told me that just before the game which was mad as you can imagine. It didn't help the situation.”

Kirkland has been back to Leeds twice since; once starting and once on the bench in consecutive 1-1 draws. Both were lunchtime kick-offs. He doubts he’ll go again.