Inverness striker Gregory Tade allegedly racially abused on Twitter

Strathclyde Police’s Football Coordination Unit for Scotland (Focus), which was set up to deal with internet hate crime, has confirmed they are investigating the matter, along with Northern Constabulary.

The 25-year-old Frenchman was allegedly told to “give up life” by a tweeter who said he was “black” and “s**** at football”. Chief executive of the SFA Stewart Regan sent a message to the abusive user, saying ‘the police will find you’, and calling the abusive posts ‘shocking and unacceptable.’

A statement issued by Inverness Caledonian Thistle said: “We are totally appalled by any suggestion of a racist attack on one of our players. Gregory is a great favourite with our supporters and we are hugely disappointed he is the target of a bigot.”

The Inverness manager, Terry Butcher, and club chairman Kenny Cameron were due to meet with Mr Tade today, to discuss if any further action needed to be taken.

Mr Tade tweeted: ‘Thanks everyone for your support, sad to see people using Twitter for a bad purpose like this.’

The abusive user deleted his Twitter account, after sending a message apologising to the player, claiming he had been drunk when he had sent the initial abuse.

A statement from the Professional Footballers Association read: “The message sent to Gregory Tade is highly offensive and we would provide any support requested by the player. The recent change in government legislation which is aimed at punishing those who partake in racist, sectarian and offensive behaviour through social media and the internet is welcomed by PFA Scotland.

“While as an organisation we offer advice and guidance to players who use social network sites and remind them of their responsibilities as professional footballers, players should still be entitled to use social media without fear of being the recipient of abusive messages.”