Toure’s apology for racism allegation
FOR THE FIRST TIME, YAYA TOURE OPENS UP ON HIS CLAIMS OF RACISM AGAINST PEP AND HIS CITY FALL-OUT
YAYA TOURE has sent a letter to Manchester City apologising for accusations he made about Pep Guardiola.
Toure was quoted as saying Guardiola had ‘problems with Africans wherever he goes’ in an interview given just weeks after the midfielder left the
Etihad in 2018. The 37-yearold reveals in Sportsmail today that he conveyed his remorse to City last year, and hopes to mend his relationship with the club.
‘That interview was my big, huge mistake,’ said Toure. ‘When you give your voice to someone, they can twist it.
‘I was aware some staff were not happy. I emailed a letter to communicate with some important people there to apologise and say I’ve been indecent to the club but I haven’t had any feedback. I want peace.’
Toure made the remarks on the eve of City’s FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea.
‘We don’t want this (acrimony) all the time,’ he added.
‘For the love of the fans, for the love of the club, sometimes things have to be settled the right way.’
Vincent Kompany gave a speech on the night Yaya toure waved goodbye to Manchester city three years ago. Obviously Kompany gave a speech — he loves one. He is good at them, in fairness, and struck the perfect tone with mic in hand on the etihad pitch.
An emotional Kompany listed toure’s defining contributions. ‘thank you, Yaya,’ he said. ‘ if you’re not going to be a legend after all that, then you’ll never be a legend.’
toure is the uncomfortable legend, if anything, and on a reconciliation mission 10 years since he altered Manchester’s footballing landscape forever when pinching a ball off Michael carrick in that FA cup semi-final derby.
toure wants peace with city, the club where he spent eight seasons but with whom his relationship remains uneasy.
He has been happily reminiscing about the good times. the sliding doors moment against Manchester United in 2011. His winner in the subsequent FA cup final over Stoke city. the three Premier League titles, the two League cups. His stonking season in 2013-14, perhaps the best of any modern midfielder. in essence, his role in city’s ascent.
Pride shines yet sadness lingers in the way toure speaks. now 37, he is ready to accept a large share of the blame for the breakdown in communication with city.
He has not been back to the club since 2018, despite a lifetime season ticket and a training pitch named in his honour.
He admits that an interview he gave to France Football a month after his departure, including wildly inflammatory quotes about Pep Guardiola’s attitude towards Africans, was inexcusable.
He reveals he sent a letter to the club last year, offering an unreserved apology. it has gone unanswered so far and he is unsure whether it ever reached Guardiola.
‘that interview was my big, huge mistake,’ toure says ruefully. ‘When you give your trust, your voice to someone, they can twist it. i was aware some city staff were not happy. i emailed a letter to try to communicate with important people there to apologise and say i’ve been indecent to the club, but i haven’t had any feedback.
‘i want peace. We don’t want this (acrimony) all the time. For the love of the fans, for the love of the club, sometimes things have to be settled the right way.
‘i’ve been in touch with some people there. But the people at the top, it’s impossible.’
toure, now a coach in Ukraine with Olimpik Donetsk, is the hero rarely referenced, almost a mythical footballer. toure, the protagonist who ended city’s 35-year trophy drought all those seasons ago, feels like a fable.
‘the semi-final against United… we were a mess,’ he says.
‘they dominated us. How many chances? Joe Hart made incredible saves. (Dimitar) Berbatov missed the unmissable. it was incredible; two or three yards from goal, over the bar.
‘they bullied us. We got to the dressing room at half-time. Roberto Mancini left us. We battered each other. Shouting. “this cannot happen!” if we lose then we lose — we accept it, they were better — but not playing like that. We lost all the duels. We were poor, it was horrendous. We respected United too much.’
toure told Gareth Barry and nigel de Jong to hold the midfield fort and he would win the game. Making good on his promise, he pinched possession from carrick, charged for goal and slipped the ball under edwin van der Sar to go down in city folklore.
‘Some goalkeepers open their legs, so i knew what to do,’ he grins. toure still watches that goal on Youtube and will doubtless have a look on its anniversary.
city aim to reach only their second final since then against chelsea at Wembley today.
‘i was close to joining chelsea,’ he says. ‘Juventus and inter as well. chelsea would’ve been easy because they already had a story as a great club. Didier Drogba was there as well.
‘city were more demanding, if you understand what i mean? they said they were going to change, they wanted to be a big club, better than their neighbour.
‘carlos tevez was a huge figure in that moment but he was quite concerned, when you see players like ( emmanuel) Adebayor, Robinho… city were doing good business but then those players were able to leave. they weren’t adapting well with the club.
‘But i was thinking in my mind to get to a club where people could see me. At Barcelona i was surrounded by great players — Xavi, iniesta, Messi — and that meant people thought it was easy for me to play with them. After i moved to city, people started to realise how capable i was.’
they did, although toure’s tag of mischief-maker has stuck and he resents that.
His agent, Dimitri Seluk, was forever in scrapes with city about all sorts — toure possibly leaving, new contracts, lack of respect.
in truth, the player probably did not do enough to distance himself from Seluk’s comments. Listening to him now, it sounds as if he and the club tiptoed around each other without ever really addressing the issues head-on.
‘it was quite difficult. i look like a bad person because of all the negative stuff around me,’ toure says. ‘it’s not right to say i’m a bad person. At that time i didn’t want to respond because, for me, football was the most important. My target was: don’t try to get
‘For the love of the fans, for the love of the club, things have to be settled’
disturbed by these situations. It should have been handled better, to be honest.
‘You have to surround yourself with able people. A lot of stuff could be better.
‘People were taking what Dimitri was saying and then putting it together with me, creating an atmosphere like I was complaining about the cake or whatever.’
Ah yes, the cake. The infamous birthday cake of 2014. Seluk whipped up a real treat with a cherry on top there.
Briefly: Toure’s Russian adviser outlandishly complained that nobody at City had wished his client a proper happy 31st birthday. Toure, who was given a cake aboard a flight to a post- season tour, seemed to publicly denounce Seluk before backing him an hour later. A messy afternoon.
That came days after a second title win, his best season at the club under Manuel Pellegrini, who had made him vice-captain.
‘We had that freedom to play,’ he says. ‘I was always happy at City but Pellegrini was perfect for me. I fitted the system. They played around me. My mind was clear.’
Relations really soured between Seluk and City once Guardiola pitched up in 2016.
Seluk flipped his lid when Toure was not picked in the Champions League squad, the midfielder placed in exile until he apologised. Difficulties between manager and player existed from their time together at Barcelona, and Toure waited months for an appearance.
He scored twice at Crystal Palace in his first game back and became a crucial cog towards the end of Guardiola’s debut year, earning a new contract before barely featuring in the Centurions campaign.
Then came the serious allegations that Toure severely regrets. Allegations that he may never recover from — at least while
Guardiola is in situ. For all the talk of City legends amid Sergio Aguero’s exit and the striker’s statue alongside those of Kompany and David Silva, Toure’s story feels like one that could have ended in a far more satisfactory manner.
‘People write my name as being there at the start of the change for this club,’ he says.
‘ For me, that is more than enough. I will always be delighted to be part of this club. I was there at the beginning of United’s fall.’