Brentford’s Tarkowski apologises and explains refusal to play

James Tarkowski has apologised to the Brentford fans, manager and his team-mates after his refusal to play against Burnley earlier this month.

Tarkowski was disciplined after telling Bees head coach Dean Smith he did not want to come up against the Clarets, who had earlier had a bid for the centre-back rejected.

The 23-year-old was left out of the Bees’ win at Preston on Saturday and will also not feature against Leeds this Tuesday as his punishment continues.

But Tarkowski has broken his silence and revealed he wanted to move back up north to care for his terminally-ill mother.

The former Oldham man said: “I have always had a strong bond with my team-mates and the fans.

“I also have a very close relationship with my family, who have been there and supported me throughout my career.

“Unfortunately my mum has a serious, incurable illness and her condition has been getting steadily worse.

“I live a good four hours away from her and, during the autumn, it became clear to me that I needed to get closer to home to support both her and my dad.

“I was open and up front about this with the club, who were sympathetic and said they’d work with me and my agent to try to reach a solution which worked well for the club whilst giving me the possibility to move to closer to my mum.

“We decided to keep this matter confidential in the best interests of everyone. I decided not to put in a transfer request as we agreed it would be better to work together on this.”

Tarkowski also explained he felt “completely frazzled” and unable to concentrate in the build-up to the Burnley game on 15 January.

He added: “I felt that to play in the match in this frame of mind may actually do more harm than good.

“I thought that my distraction may result in an error that would let my team mates and the fans down.

“I felt unable to guarantee my usual standard of performance and said as much to the gaffer [Smith]. I would like to apologise to my team mates, the gaffer and the fans.

“I hope that you can understand the pressure I was under and that no offence or insult was intended to anyone associated with the club. I have taken the sanction given to me by the club with good grace.

“I am still under contract at Brentford and am committed to giving my best for the club, the team and the fans, as I always do when wearing the shirt.”