A Chelsea season ticket holder has pleaded guilty to posting racist, anti-Semitic and hateful tweets about football players and fans, police have said.
Nathan Blagg, 21, posted a series of tweets about black football players, as well as anti-Semitic abuse, before bragging that he could say what he wanted online.
One of his tweets said: “Can’t beat days like this, can be as horrible as I like and not be judged it’s mint”.
Blagg’s tweets were initially brought to the attention of Chelsea FC by a West Bromwich Albion fan who complained to the club about a tweet referencing Cyrille Regis, a former player who died in 2018.
The tweets had been sent after the two clubs played each other on 26 September 2020.
Chelsea identified more offensive posts from the username NB__1905 and flagged them to the Metropolitan Police.
The account was found to belong to Blagg, a season ticket holder for the club.
He had posted a series of anti-Semitic tweets on his public account – which meant anyone could view them – before matches between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur on 29 November 2020 and 4 February this year.
Blagg, of Retford, Nottinghamshire, was arrested at his home on 8 February and charged by postal requisition in September.
He pleaded guilty to seven counts of sending by public communication network an offensive/ indecent/ obscene/ menacing message/ matter, when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
He will be sentenced in November.
Blagg’s guilty plea comes less than two weeks after a West Bromwich Albion fan was jailed for eight weeks for racially abusing footballer Romaine Sawyers on Facebook, and a month after an England fan was sentenced for posting racist abuse about three black England footballers on the night of the Euro 2020 final.
Investigating officer Detective Constable Suzanne Smith said: “Nathan Blagg thought he could post grossly offensive and abusive messages about other football fans and players with impunity.
“But this investigation demonstrates that nobody can post racist, anti-semitic or hateful abuse on social media without consequences.
“Football fans and players are fed up with this kind of toxic discourse surrounding the game on social media and we will use all the policing powers available to us to stop it from happening.
“I would like to thank Chelsea FC for bringing the results of their initial investigation to our attention.
“I would encourage anyone to report social media abuse to police by calling 101 or tweeting @MetCC.”
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