Brentford react as online troll gets jail term, 3-year ban for racially abusing Toney

Premier League club Brentford have reacted after a football fan was jailed and banned for three years for racially abusing forward Ivan Toney.

Antonio Neill has received a ban from all stadiums and a four-month jail term in a landmark ruling for abusing Toney online.

The incident happened on October 14, 2022, when Neill sent an abusive message through his private account to the England star.

"Discrimination has absolutely no place in any society, whether out in our communities or online," Superintendent Scott Cowie, hate crime lead for Northumbria Police, said per Premier League.

Following the report of the landmarking ruling on Monday, Premier League club, Brentford has reacted to the development.

Brentford called on social media companies to make their platform safer while hoping the Neill ruling will act as a deterrent for others.

“Ivan Toney has been subject to sickening racist abuse on a regular basis, and we want to see tough action taken against anyone found guilty of such abuse," the club said in a statement.

"The club firmly believes there is no place for racial abuse in football and we continue to support and implement a zero-tolerance policy towards discriminatory behaviour of any kind."

“All authorities have their role to play in this and we, again, call upon the social media companies to make their platforms safe for all participants and to remove all hateful content.”

Brentford boss, Thomas Frank applauded the ruling but wanted a harder sentence for the young online troll. 

"I’m pleased that racial abuse ends in court," Frank said. "I think the sentence could be harder but it's a good step in the right direction to show there’s no room for racism. Hopefully, it's a reminder to social media companies they can do more."