Patrick Bamford and his family were the subject of death threats from some Leeds United fans following his missed penalty against Newcastle United – but Sam Allardyce has shared how the striker has reacted behind the scenes.
Bamford, 29, had deleted his Twitter account in the build up to Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Newcastle. It comes after a miss against Leicester, in which a video of his high-profile Leeds misses were put together in a sort of culmination.
Then, his missed penalty – which would have put Leeds 2-0 up – saw Leeds go on and fail to win. Afterwards, his fiancee posted numerous death threats that Bamford, his family including child and dog, had received on Twitter.
Leeds condemned it, and now Allardyce has spoken about it in Friday morning’s press conference. He states that Leeds have looked after him and while he is okay, he is clearly emotional about it – hinting he will start on Sunday.
“He’s been okay. Obviously, extremely upset about the situation. It is something that leaves a very very bad taste. I’d like the police to do a lot more. But when it comes to social media, they run the world and can do what they want.
“He’s handled it well, the club has given him as much support as possible – especially security. Now he has to go out on Sunday and try and score. Hopefully it won’t affect his display,” Allardyce told Friday’s press conference.
Sam Allardyce shares how striker has reacted behind Leeds scenes
It is a good sign that Bamford is okay and trying to focus on his football. While many believe he should be dropped, it is a big sign of confidence in him from the manager to start him – which he suggests he will do against West Ham.
Bamford now has the chance to go out there and show Leeds fans what he is made of. What he is capable of. He has the chance to save us, after misses against Leicester and Newcastle contributed to Leeds being in this position.
