Mike Flynn: Online abusers must be silenced, says Newport County boss
- Published
Mike Flynn's Newport are fifth in League Two despite winning only one of their last 10 league games
Newport County manager Mike Flynn has joined calls for social media companies to do more to stamp out online abuse.
Twitter and Facebook have been urged to "go further" to prevent abuse of players by some football governing bodies.
Flynn, who deleted his Twitter account last season, says online "cowards" should be silenced.
"I think it's absolutely disgusting what the social media platforms are allowing people to do," he said.
"Whether it's homophobic, racist or just downright horrible aggressive abuse to individuals because they play for a team or manage a team, or their team is not doing as well as they would like them to.
"I was getting, not horrible abuse, but I was getting talked about in negative ways when we were top of the league, so you can imagine some of these other clubs - it's crazy.
"They are cowards who don't put their name to it. The people who write the vile stuff - the homophobic, the racist comments - are an absolute disgrace.
"Those big companies need to clamp down on this because it's a disgrace."
The Premier League, English Football League, women's professional game, Professional Footballers' Association, League Managers' Association, Professional Game Match Officials' Board and anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out sent a joint letter to Twitter and Facebook this week asking them to do more.
Players including Manchester United stars Marcus Rashford, Axel Tuanzebe and Lauren James, Chelsea's Reece James and Swansea's Yan Dhanda have been sent abusive messages in recent weeks.
Referee Mike Dean notified police this week after his family received online death threats.
"Everybody wants to be negative because nobody likes good news, a lot of people are jealous of good news," Flynn added.
"You have only got to look at the comments on the newspaper articles. They should be stopped as well. Why give somebody the platform to talk vile rubbish?"
Flynn deleted his Twitter account after then Bradford manager Stuart McCall was abused during a game at Rodney Parade 12 months ago, prompting Newport to apologise.
"I had Bradford fans asking me to sort it out but I couldn't - that's a club thing to do. The club had dealt with it the right way." said Flynn, a friend of McCall's and a former Bantams player.
"You don't want to be ignorant, to lie or make something up. It was easier to come off.
"There's enough negativity going on in the world and I don't need to be reading it day in, day out.
"I concentrate on the positives in my life which are my health, my family, my children, my staff, my friends, my team and my club."