Knott will always be part of the Bradford City family

This was hardly Saturday night at the London Palladium level but a very pleasant midweek evening at the Record Café on North Parade.

The warmth in the bar was clear from the start. Everybody loved Billy Knott.

The feeling was reciprocated in the dressing room.

An infectious guy off the field and an immensely-talented one on it - and a certain goal smacked in against a certain team guaranteed an even deeper affinity with the City faithful.

But what few would have realised was how tough Knott was finding life at that time.

The incredible, unbelievable highs of his first year at Valley Parade against Leeds, the FA Cup run, Stamford Bridge and Sunderland had been replaced by a season of self-doubt.

The cheeky-chappy smile in front of the fans posing the questions over their pints masked a growing internal battle.

No longer a regular in the team, splitting up with his fiancée spiralled into drinking binges as the demons in his head took a hold. Everything was becoming a struggle.

I last spoke to Billy during lockdown after he had just been released by National League South side Chelmsford. He admitted it had become “borderline embarrassing” to find himself so far down the ladder.

Billy Knott enjoys a laugh at the player-of-the-year awards (Image: Charles Hague)

Last week, he went public on social media to reveal just how bad things have become.

An addictive personality, his cry for help on Twitter about the mistakes he has made and the people hurt along the way made difficult reading. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to write.

The response within the football community showed that there are so many in his corner - here in West Yorkshire as much as anywhere.

Knott may be Essex through and through but when it comes to the City family, he feels like one of our own.

And like any proper family, they want to be there for you during the toughest times.

If you’re reading this Billy, I hope it can portray the affection in which you will always be held within Bantam circles.

Never forget what a good player you were - and how much you contributed in some pinch-yourself occasions that anyone fortunate enough to have witnessed or been involved in will remember for the rest of their lives.

There will always be the goal that almost blew the roof of the Kop with the explosion of noise that followed.

Billy Knott had 30 family and friends at the Chelsea game (Image: PA)

Some in that team still say it was the loudest they recall at the stadium when Knott pinged that half-volley beyond Leeds keeper Stuart Taylor to spark the comeback towards a first Valley Parade victory over their fiercest rivals in 82 years.

Phil Parkinson effectively built the team around Knott during that 2015-2015 season. He played the diamond shape just to get him in as the number 10.

Pre-match team talks would focus on “getting the ball to Billy” as often as possible.

Knott was never the fittest in the squad and his stamina would come into question around the 70-minute mark.

But it shows how highly he was rated by Parkinson that the City boss, hardly one to carry passengers, was always so keen to get him in there for what he would offer to the team going forward.

Billy Clarke was at his City peak at the time but Knott was keeping him out of the role in a season when he featured in 51 games.

And when he wasn’t involved, Knott would be an enthusiastic supporter from the sidelines. He was never one of those players who bad-mouthed the rest when he hadn’t been picked.

That’s what made him so popular around the squad and why Parkinson would work so hard to encourage and cajole every ounce of talent from the midfielder.

They all knew what that wand of a left foot could conjure when Knott was in “magic man” mood.

His right wasn’t just a standing swinger either - remember his second goal at Millwall in the FA Cup third round with the most nonchalant of flicks from a Filipe Morais cross?

Billy Knott applauds the City fans after the FA Cup quarter-final exit (Image: Newsquest)

Knott shone at Chelsea in front of a bus-full of mates and family up from Canvey Island. It was his shot kept out by a stretching Petr Cech that teed up Morais for the equaliser as the greatest of cup shocks took shape.

The 6,000-strong travelling army was swelled by at least 30 from Team Knott - who partied as hard into the night as any of those heading back north.

The signed shirt handed over by John Terry in the tunnel afterwards demonstrated the respect for Knott’s personal performance in a team that, in Jose Mourinho’s famous dressing-room tribute, had played with “big balls”.

Sunderland brought another great story, putting one over the Premier League club who had knocked him back as youngster as City reached the quarter-finals and eventual heartache at Reading.

It’s a crying shame that Knott’s talent did not get to the next level but there are many, many players who would have gone through a far longer career without such unforgettable memories. He should never overlook that.

Chin up Billy, we are all here for you. Get yourself back up to Valley Parade one day and you will see that.