Chelsea refute claims that abuse led midfielder to delete Twitter account

Thursday, September 20, 2012
8:30 PM

Chelsea tonight denied John Obi Mikel had been hounded from Twitter after the midfielder deleted his account amid claims he had been the victim of a torrent of abuse.

Mikel removed his profile from the social networking site less than 24 hours after his mistake helped cost the Blues victory in the opening match of their Champions League defence against Juventus.

A Chelsea spokesman said that it was entirely coincidental that Mikel, who insisted he was entirely unaware of any abuse, had decided to delete the ‘Mikel12Official’ account he set up this summer.

The spokesman said Mikel felt Twitter was not for him at the present time but had not ruled out joining the site again in the future.

However, since learning of abuse aimed at their player Chelsea have announced that the police have been informed,

A statement read: “We’ve been made aware of racist tweets targeted at Mikel which are totally unacceptable, disgusting and abhorrent.

“We’ve informed the police and support taking the strongest possible action.”

Mikel refused to hide from his mistake after last night’s 2-2 Group E draw against Juve.

The 25-year-old gave the ball away 10 minutes from time before he and his team-mates failed to prevent Claudio Marchisio playing Fabio Quagliarella into space for the equaliser.

Mikel said afterwards: “If I want to make up an excuse, I can. But, for me, I gave the ball away. I put my hands up, we move on.

“I’m sorry about the mistake, but there are no excuses.”