I’m not Lord Bamford’s son, says ace footballer

LEEDS United ace Patrick Bamford has laughed off a myth that he is the son of the super-rich chairman of Rocester-based JCB.

Speaking on That Peter Crouch Podcast this week, Bamford laughed when the beanpole former Liverpool and England striker raised the issue.

Although Bamford was privately educated, he may well have been richer as the son of Lord Bamford – whose net worth is estimated at £4.7 billion, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

Six-foot-eight-inch-tall Crouch – who is married to 5ft 9ins tall model Abbey Clancy – said: “I keep hearing this and I don’t know if it’s true or not.

“Patrick, can you clear this up: Your family is JCB?”

Bamford laughed and confirmed it was not the case.

Asked how the myth started, he said: “Someone picked it up one time and said, it’s your dad, isn’t it? And all of a sudden it spread like wildfire.

“I remember when we got promoted, we had a little do in the hotel. Even the assistant – he’s left now – under Marcelo (Bielsa, the Leeds manager) was like, ‘Honestly, I’m so happy for the way that you work, especially with how rich your dad is and where he’s from’. I was thinking, ‘What? My dad’s from Newark. What are you on about?’.

“I’m sure they’re distantly related somewhere down the line ... and then it just kind of spread and everyone seemed to think that I owned these diggers.”

JCB was founded by Joseph Cyril Bamford, the father of Lord Bamford - a Tory peer formerly known as Sir Anthony Bamford – in Uttoxeter in 1945.

It now has factories across the world including several in Staffordshire and

Derbyshire and is one of the globe’s biggest construction equipment firms.

Leeds United player Patrick Bamford laughed off suggestions he could be the JCB boss’ son on a podcast with former footballer Peter Crouch