Brentford have condemned the “disgusting, racist abuse” faced by striker Ivan Toney after his two goals in Friday’s 2-0 win over Brighton.
Toney posted a screenshot of a direct message he received on Instagram and wrote on Twitter: “I wasn’t even going to post this but I woke up angry”.
In a statement, the Bees said it condemned the discrimination in the “strongest possible terms”.
“An attack on one of our players is an attack on all of us,” the club said.
“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.”
Brentford added that all relevant authorities had been informed, including the police.
In May, Toney and team-mate Rico Henry said their families were racially abused at Goodison Park after Brentford’s 3-2 win over Everton last season.
Toney, 27, scored either side of the break, including a second-half penalty, as Brentford returned to winning ways against Brighton.
Players took the knee before kick-off as part of the Premier League’s No Room For Racism campaign, with teams doing so prior to all Premier League matches between 8 and 16 October to show their unity against all forms of racism.
Premier League captains decided before the start of the current season that players would stop the pre-match anti-racism gesture of taking the knee before every game. It will now be seen before certain rounds of games.
Toney was called into the England squad for September’s Nations League fixtures against Italy and Germany but was not used by Gareth Southgate.
