Brentford FC: Club condemn ‘disgusting’ racist abuse of striker Ivan Toney and expect ‘strong’ police support
The club issued the statement earlier today
Brentford FC have issued a statement condemning the racist abuse directed at striker Ivan Toney last night. Toney shared a message he received on his Instagram page following his side’s 2-0 win against Brighton, a match in which the forward scored both goals.
The striker shared the message he received on his Twitter page including the name and profile picture of the account which sent the message. The two-work message refers to the striker’s race followed by a highly offensive swear word.
The football club issued a statement this morning condemning the racist abuse and saying that they expect strong support from the authorities including the police and Instagram’s parent company, Meta.
A spokesperson for the club said: “Last night, Ivan Toney was subjected to disgusting, racist abuse via a direct message received on social media.
“We condemn this discriminatory behaviour in the strongest possible terms. An attack on one of our players is an attack on all of us.
“Ivan will receive the full backing from the Club and from the Brentford fans who we have already seen condemning the abuse.”
The spokesperson added: “We expect strong support from the police, legal authorities and from Instagram’s parent company, Meta, to ensure that the individual involved faces the full force of the law for this despicable hate crime.”
Before the match at the Brentford Community Stadium last night, both sets of players took the knee. This was part of the Premier League’s No Room For Racism- this is something which has been done at all Premier League matches from October 8 to 16.