Troy Deeney has joined the crusade for football's racists to be clobbered with meaningful penalties, scoffing: “Some of the fines are what I spend on a night out.”
Watford’s captain was subjected to appalling bigotry on social media, and disabled the comments option on his Instagram account, after last month's FA Cup semi-final thriller against Wolves where his last-gasp equaliser from the penalty spot took the tie to extra time.
He has since positioned himself at the forefront of the Premier League players’ #Enough campaign making a stand against the guttersnipe pond life.
Striker Deeney , who leads his men against Treble-chasing Manchester City in Saturday's final, said: “Did it detract from the achievement? No, because everyone I care about was there.
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“But it did put a slight tilt on the day.
“Everyone knows I’ve split up from my wife, I’ve got a new missus and all this poison is new to her. My younger sister has also been getting stuff, just because her brother won a game of football.
“If you’ve got something to say, direct it at me.
"Very few people have the guts to say it to my face, but when you get threats you have to take them seriously because I’ve got kids, I’ve got family and they don’t deserve it.
“When you have people posting negro this, negro that, monkey emojis... come on, do we want our kids to grow up reading that?
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“I called out the racists in the hope every footballer with a family, and in touch with their conscience, will also make a stand and the snowball effect will spare future generations from such prehistoric attitudes.
“Some of the fines being handed out for incidents of racism are what I spend on a night out. It gets to the point where you wonder, what’s the f***ing point?”
Deeney has 80 family and friends coming to the final.
While he's under no illusions about the odds being stacked against his team, he added: “We are potentially 90 minutes away from getting into Europe, and if you want to reach those upper tiers in football, you have to beat the best."
