‘No more’
The Daily Mirror, Daily Express and Daily Star report that England footballers will discuss walking off the pitch if they are racially abused by fans in Bulgaria next month.
Bulgaria were fined £34,250 by Uefa in 2011 when Ashley Young, Ashley Cole and Theo Walcott were abused during England’s Euro 2012 qualifier in Sofia.
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Then last weekend a Bulgarian fan was ejected from Wembley over alleged racist taunts directed at England forward Raheem Sterling.
In March Sterling and Callum Hudson-Odoi were targets of Montenegro fans during the Euro 2020 qualifying match.
The Three Lions travel to Sofia on 14 October and boss Gareth Southgate said: “It’s a concern. We’ve planned our schedule and will discuss it with the players before we go because we’re aware there is history there.
“We’re not confident that we’ll go there and nothing will happen.”
The Mirror says England stars could give racists the red card with the “ultimate protest” of leaving the field.
Southgate has also appealed to England fans to be on their best behaviour for the trip to Prague when the team plays the Czech Republic on 11 October. He said: “It’s sad we have to appeal to people going to follow us to behave.”
