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Brentford have condemned “despicable” racist abuse of Ivan Toney and called for support from the police and Instagram after their star striker revealed a private message he was sent on Friday.
Toney scored twice in Brentford’s 2-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion, taking the England World Cup hopeful’s tally to an impressive eight goals for the season.
But Toney posted on Twitter on Saturday to report an abusive message he had received on Instagram in the closing stages of the game.
The former Newcastle United forward uploaded images of both the message and the account from which it was sent.
“I wasn’t even going to post this, but I woke up angry,” Toney said.
A statement followed from Brentford, which read: “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.
“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.”
