Former Bristol City striker Leroy Lita claims he was glassed by a Bristol Rovers fan while on a night out during his time with the Robins, as he laid bare the drinking culture at the club during the mid-2000s.
Lita enjoyed three years with City, after signing from Premier League Chelsea as a teenager, scoring 38 goals in 100 appearances at League One level and earning an England Under-21 cap before securing a £1million transfer to Championship Reading.
Now 38, and still playing for non-league Nuneaton Borough in the Southern League Premier Division, Lita looked back on his professional career with the Undr the Cosh podcast. The striker discussed breaking into the Robins team as a teenager under Danny Wilson before becoming a first-team regular when teammate and mentor Brian Tinnion took over for the 2004/05 campaign, scoring 29 goals which precipitated his move to the Royals.
That group of players, endearingly described by Lita as “mad men” who were “doing things professional footballers shouldn’t be doing”, was underpinned by a strong team spirit but also a love of the Bristol nightlife.
“I can’t speak any (more) highly of that group,” Lita told Undr the Cosh. “When we travelled I liked to sit with Scott Murray and Brian Tinnion because they were experienced, so had loads of stories, especially Tinnion because he played for Newcastle. I just kept thinking, ‘I must be able to feed something off him’.
“And then I’d go and have a laugh with the younger players. Liam Rosenior, me and him were similar, we got on like a house on fire. Just a really good group of different characters that you’d actually go to war with. I know we didn’t get promoted, but we were there every year, pushing.
“That group there, that was a drinking bomb scare. Danny (Wilson) used to know when you’d been out, Brian was your mate because he had been a teammate. He was player-manager, so it was difficult for him. The culture of the club changed and we were always out.”
As well as discussing a fight that took place on the Bristol Harbourside, Lita also claims he once glassed on a night out by a Rovers fan. “I remember getting glassed there,” Lita said, confirming it was by a Gashead, pointing to a scar on the side of his face. “Lucky it wasn’t my eyes. We shouldn’t have been out. That’s what the club said!”
Lita’s time at the club will almost be remembered as much for the games he didn’t play in as the ones he did, most notably the Second Division (now League One) play-off final against Brighton & Hove Albion at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
Having made 31 appearances that season, scoring five times, he had been named on the bench for both semi-final legs against Hartlepool but was left out of the matchday squad against the Seagulls, with Wilson naming Christian Roberts and Lee Miller in attack and wingers Scott Murray and Marc Goodfellow as his only attacking substitutes.
Lita admits the omission, a year after he had also not been selected for the LDV Vans Trophy final against Carlisle United, caused him to briefly consider his future in the game as he was so distraught he couldn’t bring himself to watch the Robins’ 1-0 defeat, instead retreating to the players bar with good friend Clayton Fortune.
“It was my second time at the Millennium Stadium in a year, because we had the LDV Vans Trophy final. So we got to a play-off final against Brighton - only striker fit, so I’m thinking, bench at least - and then in the changing room, he’s named the team and I’m not in the team,” Lita said.
“So I’ve walked round to the baths and I was crying, I was devastated, thinking, ‘how? How has this happened to me twice in a year?’ This big stadium, you know the things you dream of as a kid, playing in finals, big stadiums, how has this happened?
“Clayton, give me a hug. Fair play, he looked after me like a big brother within a football club and he put his arm around me and said, ‘don’t worry, you’ll be alright, come with me’.
“He took me straight into the bar, and I didn’t drink at this point, we sat there - didn’t see the warm-up, didn’t see the game, we went out about a minute before the final whistle - and just drank, he was making me drink JD and coke or something like that.
“It put a smile on my face, made me forget about the pain for a moment. We went outside, I was still devastated; getting back on the coach, seeing the Bristol Rovers fans on one of the bridges celebrating because we lost. ‘I’m going to give up’. Then after I had my little cry…”
Speaking to Bristol Live last year, Wilson claimed he left Lita out as he felt he had enough forward options and due to him being an up-and-coming talent, it “wasn't worth a gamble”. The striker however used the decision to spur him on.
“I never got an explanation. I played for Danny again, and forgave him because it gave me more resilience to disappointment,” Lita added. “I just felt, ‘okay, I have to work harder’, we’re getting to these big games and I’m being left out. I was like 18 at the time, so you have to keep going.
“He taught me a lot, without even saying anything. It’s easy to say, he left me out, but then you’re just a sulker. I took it as a positive. Instead of sulking about it, I worked hard and he gave me those little bits to help you survive in the game.”
It was under Tinnion where Lita thrived in front of goal and became one of the most highly-rated striking prospects in the Football League, finishing the 2004/05 season as top scorer and with a year left on his City deal, while the Robins tried to offer him a new contract, his mind was set on a move higher up the pyramid.
At Reading he would earn promotion to the Premier League before playing for Middlesbrough, Swansea City and Barnsley as permanent destinations, amid a series of loan moves, along with stints in Greece and Thailand.
“I remember sitting with Tinns on the coach as a player. Him, Scott Murray, Louis Carey, Micky Bell - I used to sit with them on the coach, brilliant. Tinns said to me on the table one time, ‘If I ever get the manager’s job, you’ll be playing every week’,” Lita added.
“He called each player in, I went into his office and said, ‘am I in your plans’ and he said yes, you’re going to be involved. ‘Okay, cool, can I have the No8 shirt please?’ First test, he gave it to me, so he kept to his word.
“He left me free. He knew my game because of the runs I made and his passes. He was just a good guy and told me, ‘just go and play, because I know you’re good enough’. I repaid him, I would say.
“I was just hungry and determined to do well because I saw Bristol as a stepping stone. When you’ve been at a big club like Chelsea, the disappointment, it can go the opposite way, you’ve seen it many a time.
"Bristol’s a good place, a good environment to be around, good club, good fans - do well here, and then you can take that next step up, and that was my focus bit by bit, instead of taking rejection and giving up.”
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