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- He returned home to find two cars blocking the entrance to his property
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Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford has revealed he was confronted by angry fans outside his house after he missed a penalty against Newcastle last season.
Bamford said he was left fearing for the safety of his partner Michaela and their young daughter Emilia after the incident, which followed online threats against his family.
He was targeted as Leeds slipped towards relegation from the Premier League into the Championship last season.
The 30-year-old deleted his X account last March because the ‘abuse got so bad – threatening my family and even my little girl.’
In May, two weeks before the Yorkshire club’s relegation was confirmed, Bamford saw a penalty saved by Nick Pope in a 2-2 draw with Newcastle at Elland Road.
Patrick Bamford has revealed he was confronted by angry fans outside his home after he missed a penalty for Leeds against Newcastle last season
Bamford said he received online threats against his partner Michaela and their baby daughter
Bamford saw his spot-kick saved by Nick Pope in the 2-2 draw at Elland Road last May
Had he scored, Leeds would have been two goals up but they eventually had to salvage a point through Rasmus Kristensen after Callum Wilson converted two spot-kicks.
In the end, Leeds finished 19th, some five points shy of safety.
On his way home, he received a call from Michaela saying some people had turned up outside their house and hadn’t moved for 20 minutes.
‘As I turn up the drive to get in I can’t even cross the gate, there’s two cars [blocking it],’ Bamford told the BBC’s My Mate’s A Footballer podcast.
‘I went to put my window down. As I did, they put their windows up and just started at me. Then the gate opened because my dad had opened it and they drove off.
‘It think it was the culmination of the last few weeks. I took a lot of flak for it. The way they expressed it was crazy.
‘It goes from conversations with David [Bamford’s sports psychologist] about sorting out how I’m feeling to then I’ve got to deal with [the fact] Michaela doesn’t feel safe in her own home.
‘I rang him literally straight after that happened. He was like “how do you feel?”
Bamford was driving home after the game when his partner Michaela called to say some people had turned up outside their house
Leeds sent security guards to watch over the property after the angry fans turned up
Bamford and Leeds went on to be relegated but are in contention to bounce straight back
‘I said, “I’m not upset about the abuse, I’m angry that someone’s come to the house and done that.”
‘The club were good, they ended up putting security on the house for the whole night.
‘I was like, “How do I explain to Michaela – don’t worry, everything’s safe”, even though we’re sitting there with security and a security dog outside the house all night.’
On the online abuse, Bamford added: ‘The situation Leeds were in was a pretty diabolical one – we were looking like we were going to go down, which we eventually did.
‘I always had Twitter, until about mid-March. The abuse got so bad – threatening my family and even my little girl.’
Bamford scored four times for Leeds in their relegation season and has netted three goals in 21 league appearances as they push for promotion back to the top-flight this season.
