Last season, the thunder cloud of relegation culminated in enormous abuse for Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford and he has now broken silence on how Leeds fans were waiting outside his house.
Bamford, 30, is back in form right now after scoring four goals since the turn of the year – winning his place back in the starting line-up at Elland Road and scoring big goals, such as a worldie in The FA Cup.
But during the second half of last season, Bamford went from hero to zero. He scored the opener in a 5-1 loss to Palace, the moment many feel saw us lose grasp on the fight against survival from relegation.
We’d beaten Forest the game beforehand. That was our last win, failing to win in the next nine games. Bamford, who had suffered numerous injuries, missed a penalty in a 2-2 draw with Newcastle at home.
He had deactivated Twitter beforehand after a miss against Leicester in the final minutes, previously. After the penalty miss, Bamford was confronted by Leeds fans at his home – and received death threats.
Not just hime, but his family, too. It prompted a response from the club, who criticised the reaction of a group of supporters that chose to do what they did. Completely unfair, no matter what the situation.
Speaking on his My Mate’s A Footballer podcast with comedian Joe Wilkinson, Bamford opened up on the events of that day – after his penalty miss. He explains how fans were waiting outside his house.
Patrick Bamford opens up on aftermath of Newcastle penalty
Not only that, but how his partner Michaela felt unsafe in their own home: “The situation Leeds were in was pretty diabolical one, we looked like we were going down which eventually we did. I was on Twitter, not actively Tweeting – until about mid-March. The abuse got so bad, threatening, even my little girl.
“In the end I came off Twitter and deactivated the account. I spoke to David [psychologist] and he said just to ignore it, and gave me coping ways. We played Newcastle at home, I missed a penalty but ironically played well – Big Sam said shame about the penalty but that’s what I need from you.
“I was in the car after the game, crazy traffic and Michaela [partner] rang me. She said there’s people outside the house. I said, ‘what do you mean?’. They were parked outside and hadn’t moved. As I’ve come up, I’ve rang and said get Dad to walk down now. Two cars blocked the entrance to my drive.
“Put my window down, they put their windows up and stared at me,” he continued. “The gate opened as Dad had opened it, and they drove off. It was a culmination of the last few weeks – I took the flak for it, rightly or wrongly. The way they expressed it was crazy. Michaela didn’t feel safe in her own home.
“I rang David afterwards and he said, ‘how do you feel’. I said, ‘I feel like I want to kill someone’. I’m angry, that someone has come to the house. The club put security on the house for the whole night. David game me coping mechanisms to shut out the noise,” Bamford said, on his My Mate’s a Footballer pod.
Receive a digest of our best Leeds content each week direct to your mailbox
