Kick It Out would support a Premier League-wide social media boycott in protest at online abuse, with the anti-discrimination body’s chief executive saying he is “sick of the platitudes” from the companies involved.

Swansea and Birmingham are involved in week-long boycotts of their official social channels in protest at what they see as a failure of the companies to effectively tackle abuse.

Premier League clubs are reported to be considering a boycott over a weekend before the end of the season, but it is understood the issue of a boycott covering all 20 clubs has not been raised centrally to the league itself.

The investigation was carried out by Pc Stuart Ward, the first dedicated hate crime officer within a football policing unit.

Burnett, who joined Kick It Out from the same force, said he was still hearing that investigations across the country into online abuse were facing unacceptable delays.

“We’re still having issues when it comes to social media organisations supporting the police to enforce prosecutions,” he said.

“The length of time it’s taking in some instances to get the information that the police need to force prosecutions is ridiculous.”

A statement from Preston said: “The club have been made aware of a small number of racist comments made on social media and these have now been referred to the police.

“We would like to remind supporters that if you come across any racist or discriminatory comments, these must be reported directly to the police rather than the football club.”