Troy Deeney has joined the cast of black players subjected to sickening racist abuse on social media.
Just 24 hours after leading Watford to the FA Cup final in triumph, Deeney revealed he has become a target for bigoted pond life – along with his family.
The Hornets captain, who rammed in a nerveless stoppage-time penalty to take their breathless semi-final against Wolves into extra time, posted on his Instagram feed an image which simply read: “No room for racism.”
And Deeney, 30, will be removing comments from his posts after family members were also caught in the sick trolls' firing line.
He said: “Due to events from the last 24 hours, I will be taking comments off my posts. To me, this isn't a game – when you racially abuse my family or myself, I have to take measures to prevent young people seeing these comments and thinking it's acceptable.”
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Deeney added he was not prepared to “expose people I care about to these small-minded people.”
After Watford's thrilling comeback from 2-0 down in a Wembley classic, Deeney branded Wolves striker Raul Jimenez a “loser” for pulling on a wrestling-style mask to in a premeditated goal celebration.
He said: “I'm glad he put that mask on – he could wear it out now as well, now he's a loser. Enjoy the mask, we got the victory.”
It was a weekend of shame for football after incidents at matches and online.
A Brentford fan was arrested after being accused of racially abusing Duane Holmes, the Derby County midfielder during Saturday’s Championship match at Griffin Park.
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Hours later A 20-year-old man from Sheffield was arrested after an offensive social media post was directed towards Wigan's Nathan Byrne.
Northampton players were also abused while on a pre-match walk in Nottingham.
Mirror Football's Stan Collymore says drastic action is now needed to stamp racism out of football.
"Now we have to have punishments here that mean closing grounds is on the agenda...and used," he said. "I don’t care if it ends up being a Premier League ground or a big Championship ground.
"And we need fines that are big enough to be a deterrent."
