Patrick Bamford reveals the real reason why players put their hand up when taking corners

Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford has revealed the real reason why footballers put their hands up before taking a corner.

Every team's initial corner routine follows the same pattern - place the ball (just) within the quadrant, take two steps back and put your hand up.

Many fans may assume that the action is simply to alert team-mates that the ball is about to go into the box, or to signal a short corner if that is the option being taken instead.

But speaking on the 'My Mate's a Footballer' podcast, Bamford told co-host and comedian Joe Wilkinson about the real reason why footballers put their hand up - and there are specific gestures for each potential corner situation.

He explained: "Sometimes the one hand can mean it's going near post, and two hands can mean it's going far post.

"But also it might be, for example, that you've agreed in the changing room that the first corner, whichever side we get, is going to be, 'We're going to do this'.

"That's in terms of, we're going to put it in this area or we're going to crash that area.

"So the actual hand going up, and then when it comes down, it's as a cue for them [the corner taker's team-mates] to start their run."

Wilkinson then joked: "The last 11-a-side I played, it was like a charity thing. And a corner was taken and someone did that. But we obviously didn't have any movement or anything.

"His hand's coming up, and we're all just stood there trying to get our breath back [with] absolutely no idea what that means. 'Put your hand down mate!'"

Players putting their hand up isn't the only way to signal a particular corner, though.

Back in January, Match of the Day pundits thought they had found a 'secret signal' that Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard used before each set piece during their 5-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Arsenal scored both of their opening goals from corners, and Ashley Williams said: "There's always a trigger for what the movement's going to be ... if you keep an eye on Odegaard, we feel - maybe we've had too much time on our hands - but we feel that maybe he's signalling something to the corner taker.

"He's in the same place for every corner, and he's playing with his socks. There is synchronicity regarding whether they go to the front or the back [post, from the corner]."