"There were certainly plenty of people who were happy to be standing alongside me when we were challenging for the title and playing in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
"There weren't too many of those same people, though, standing by my side when it started to go wrong.
"And then it seemed that everybody decided it was my fault entirely, that nobody else had any say or input into what happened at the club.
"The criticism became not only highly personalised but went beyond the bounds of acceptability.
"That's one of the reasons why I felt such relief when Leeds beat Arsenal at Highbury last May to guarantee their Premiership survival.
"If they had gone down, that would have been pinned on me as well. And, frankly, if anything bad happens to Leeds over the next five or 10 years, I'll still get the blame for it."