Town defender Leif Davis has admitted he feels he let his teammates down following his sending off against Arsenal last month.
Davis will return from his three-match suspension for this weekend’s trip to Leicester City having missed the clashes against Newcastle United, Everton and Brentford previously.
The left-back was dismissed after 32 minutes of the Blues’ 4-0 defeat to the Gunners for a studs-up challenge on Bukayo Saka with Town already trailing by two goals.
"At the time I didn’t really think a lot of it,” Davis said. "I thought a yellow card is fair enough because I’ve made that tackle quite a lot of times. I did that in the Newcastle home game against [Tino] Livramento and won the ball, I did it earlier on against [Leandro] Trossard in the game and won the ball.
"I just saw a gap between his legs and I thought I could win the ball but he stepped across. The quality of the player, he’s quick with the ball with his feet and took the extra step. By the time I had committed I unfortunately hurt his ankle, [but] I never meant to go into a tackle hurting someone like that.
"I was disappointed and I apologised straight away to my teammates as soon as they came in at half-time putting them in that situation. Missing the next three games I felt like I let my team down.”
Following the sending off, there was plenty of negative reaction on social media to the challenge, something Davis says he tried his best to avoid.
"It wasn’t pleasant all the things that I was getting on social media and messages like that,” he said. "I just came off social media for a little bit because you’re going to get them kind of messages.
"Some of them people have probably never kicked a football in their life are saying stuff like that, not just about me but family stuff as well and I’m really a family person.
"It did hit me quite hard but that’s when I realised it’s people that haven’t been in the situation I’ve been in, got to play in the biggest league in the world and I should just look and laugh at the comments that were made.
"I came off social media, it wasn’t a tackle that I wanted to go in and hurt the player, I never would do that in a game of football. It was one of those moments in a game of football that happens.
"A tackle like that happens quite a lot in a game, say a midfielder turns out and he gets stood on, but I went in a bit more harshly and I didn’t mean to go in with that much aggression to try and hurt the player. It was a tough couple of weeks but I feel ready to go again.”
In particular, Arsenal-supporting journalist and media personality Piers Morgan was quick to share his thoughts on Twitter, labelling the former Leeds United full-back as a ‘thug’ for the incident.
"A lot of people could say the same about him,” Davis responded. "It’s comments and what people think, he could say that all he likes but I know I’m not that kind of person.
"I don’t know him personally and people could say that about him, but he could be the best bloke in the world, you never know. You never judge a book by its cover and I’m not one of them kind of people.”
The three-game ban came at the worst possible time for Davis. As a Geordie and boyhood Newcastle fan, it led to him being ruled out of the trip to St James’ Park.
Davis could not hide his disappointment at being denied the chance to play at a stadium that holds so many memories for him.
The 25-year-old was also full of praise for the Blue Army on Tyneside, who were in fine voice after relegation was confirmed following the 3-0 defeat to the Magpies that afternoon.
He said: "That was the game I had all eyes on at the start of the year when the fixtures came out. It’s football, things happen in football and you can’t control that.
"Hopefully it’s not the last opportunity I get to play there, hopefully I can play there in the future. It’s the team I’ve supported all my life and I’d have loved to play against them or play for them, anything like that. It was a disappointing one but it’s football.
"I did travel up with the team, I wanted to be involved with a lot of the games that I could be involved in when I was suspended. I had to get my work done back here as well, especially when we played Everton but that was one game that I really wanted to ask the manager if I could go and experience it all with the team and be there.
"It was relegation so I wanted to be there with the team to make sure everyone was together. The reception we got at the end by the fans was incredible, every single one of them still there at the full-time whistle clapping shows how passionate they are for the club.
"Hopefully we can give something back next year for what they’ve done for us this year.”