Brentford have promised to give Ivan Toney ‘the full backing’ of the club after the English striker revealed that he had been racially abused in the aftermath of his side’s 2-0 win over Brighton on Friday night.
Toney netted both goals, including a deft flick and a cool penalty, furthering his claim to a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the trip to Qatar having been an unused substitute in the recent Nations League clashes with Italy and Germany.
Ivan Toney, STOP THAT! 🤤
What a finish to mark your 100th game for Brentford! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/FrPk6li7x1
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 14, 2022
However, the celebratory tone was spoiled, as Toney revealed later, by racist abuse being sent to him on social media in the wake of the victory, with the Brentford striker posting screenshots of the incident on his Twitter account, saying that he wasn’t planning on publicising it but that he ‘woke up angry’.
And his actions have since been backed by Brentford.
I wasn’t even going to post this but I woke up angry… pic.twitter.com/2MhjRO05rr
— Ivan Toney (@ivantoney24) October 15, 2022
“We condemn this discriminatory behaviour in the strongest possible terms. An attack on one of our players is an attack on all of us”, the club wrote in a statement.
Ivan will receive the full backing from the Club and from the Brentford fans who we have already seen condemning the abuse.
Toney is by no means the first footballer to receive abuse of any sort on social media, with Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho all receiving racist abuse following their penalty misses at Euro 2020, while Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen postd death threats that he received after his side played Liverpool earlier in the season.