Cobblers ‘stand together’ after players suffer racist abuse

Northampton midfielder Timi Elsnik initially brought the incident to people’s attentions an hour or so after full-time on Saturday, when he tweeted: “Went for a pre match walk with the team in Nottingham and this young man outside the hotel started racially abusing some of our lads.

“The most disgusting thing I’ve seen&heard! He’s done it in front of his girl as well with no shame so he must do it all the time. Absolute idiot!”

Team-mates Sam Foley and David Buchanan also tweeted their ‘shock’ on Saturday evening and the club have today released a statement confirming the incident.

It reads: “Northampton Town Football Club confirm that a number of the first team squad were racially abused ahead of Saturday’s game at Notts County.

“The incident occurred in Nottingham as the squad went on their normal pre-match walk from the team hotel before the game.

“We would like to highly commend our players for the professional manner in which they handled the situation and as a club we stand together in condemning such actions.

“We are working with the relevant authorities and have asked anyone with any information about the incident, or possible witnesses, to contact the club.”