Arrest made after Ashley Cole allegedly racially abused during punditry work at Swindon’s game with Man City

A 24-year-old man from Swindon has been arrested on suspicion of racially abusing Ashley Cole while the former England defender worked as a pundit at an FA Cup match earlier this month.

Premier League leaders Manchester City played Swindon at the County Ground in a game covered live by ITV, who Cole was working for as he was allegedly targeted.

A Wiltshire Police statement read: “A man has been arrested in connection with a report of racist abuse after Swindon Town's FA Cup match with Manchester City earlier this month.

“The incident reportedly occurred in the corner between the Town End and the Don Rogers stand, where the ITV punditry had been set up.

“We have worked closely with the club and ITV in our investigation and this morning a 24-year-old local man was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence. He was taken to Gablecross where he remains in custody.”

Swindon owner Clem Morfuni made clear his anger at the incident after the allegations emerged.

Morfuni said: "During our FA Cup third-round tie against Manchester City at the County Ground, we sadly received reports of racial abuse towards Ashley Cole, who was part of ITV's broadcast team.

"We are absolutely saddened and deeply disgusted by this, and we cannot stress strongly enough that racial abuse of any kind will not be tolerated by Swindon Town Football Club.”

Wiltshire Police superintendent Phil Staynings added: “Racial abuse of any kind will never be tolerated by Wiltshire Police. We have worked closely with the football club, who share our strong stance on this, and would like to thank them for their support in our ongoing investigation.

“We continue to encourage people to report these types of incidents and I'm pleased that my officers have been relentless in securing this positive arrest.”