Bassetlaw man and Chelsea fan admits posting racist and anti-Semitic tweets about footballers and fans

A Bassetlaw man has admitted to posting racist, anti-Semitic and hateful tweets about football players and fans.
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Nathan Blagg, aged 21, has pleaded guilty to posting racist, anti-Semitic and hateful tweets when he appeared in court on Friday.

Offensive tweets were initially brought to the attention of Chelsea by a West Bromwich Albion supporter who complained to the club about a tweet from a Twitter user who referenced Cyrille Regis, the former West Brom and England player who died in 2018.

The tweets had been sent after Chelsea played West Brom on September 26 last year.

Nathan Blagg, aged 21, from Retford, has pleaded guilty to posting racist, anti-Semitic and hateful tweets about football players and fans.Nathan Blagg, aged 21, from Retford, has pleaded guilty to posting racist, anti-Semitic and hateful tweets about football players and fans.
Nathan Blagg, aged 21, from Retford, has pleaded guilty to posting racist, anti-Semitic and hateful tweets about football players and fans.

Chelsea then identified more offensive and anti-Semitic tweets posted from the account and passed the information to the Metropolitan Police.

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The account was found to belong to Blagg, a Chelsea season ticket holder.

Further analysis of tweets from the account, which was set to public, which means anyone can view this person's tweets on their profile, revealed racist tweets about black football players and anti-Semitic abuse.

Blagg posted a series of anti-Semitic tweets before matches between Chelsea and Spurs on 29 November 2020 and 4 February this year.

One of his tweets stated: "Can't beat days like this, can be as horrible as I like and not be judged it's mint".Detective Constable Suzanne Smith, the investigating officer, 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.”

Blagg was arrested at his home in Retford on Monday, February 8 and charged by postal requisition in September.

Appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, he pleaded guilty to seven counts of sending by public communication network an offensive/indecent/obscene/menacing message/matter.

He will be sentenced on Friday November 8.