Leeds striker Patrick Bamford has revealed fans turned up outside his home after he missed a penalty during a draw against Newcastle last season.
Bamford says he had previously received “a lot of flak” from supporters as Leeds struggled in the Premier League.
This included online abuse targeting his family which led him to delete his account on X, formerly Twitter.
It culminated in the fans’ behaviour after the Newcastle match which left his wife Michaela feeling unsafe.
Bamford, 30, was speaking to Joe Wilkinson on the My Mate’s a Footballer podcast about the abuse players receive and says he deleted his X account in March after online attacks “got so bad”.
The striker, who has one England cap, scored two goals in 28 top-flight matches last season and says he took a lot of criticism for the team’s performances. Leeds were relegated on the final day of the season, two weeks after their draw with the Magpies.
“The situation Leeds were in was a pretty diabolical one – we were looking like we were going to go down, which we eventually did,” he said.
“I always had Twitter, until about mid-March. The abuse got so bad – threatening my family and even my little girl.”
In the Newcastle match in May, Nick Pope saved Bamford’s 28th-minute penalty which would have put Leeds 2-0 up in a match they ended up drawing 2-2.
The forward, who told the podcast he had “ironically… played well” during the game, said he received a call from his wife on his way home from Elland Road telling him some people had turned up outside their house.
“As I turn up the drive to get in I can’t even cross the gate, there’s two cars [blocking it],” Bamford says.
“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.
“I think it was a 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?’
“I said ‘I’m not upset about the abuse, I’m angry that someone’s come up to the house’. The club ended up putting security on the house for the night.”
Leeds are currently third in the Championship – 12 points off leaders Leicester. Bamford has three goals in 21 league appearances in 2023-24.
Listen to all episodes of My Mate’s a Footballer with Patrick Bamford and comedian Joe Wilkinson on BBC Sounds
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
