Hudson-Odoi: It’s right to make a stand...we are all equal
BY MIKE WALTERS & JOHN CROSS you have got to stick together as a team – which is what the boys did in Bulgaria. captain to ask them what’s right and what’s wrong. “If the manager says we stay on the pitch, we stay there, try to cope with it and we make the decision all as a team. “If we think it is right and we can focus and carry on playing then we do that. If not and the manager says something different then we do what the manager says. It’s all up to the manager and the captain but it’s also a team decision so we have a say in what’s happening.” Bulgaria boss Balakov, 53, denied on Monday he had even heard any racist abuse during the 6-0 defeat.
But the 1994 World Cup star changed his tune yesterday, issuing a statement over the abuse Tyrone Mings and Raheem Sterling received.
He said: “My comments prior to the game versus England – that Bulgaria did not have trouble with racism – were based on the fact that the local championship has not seen such an issue on a large scale.
“There might have been isolated cases but it is definitely not something that you see at the stadium. The majority of football fans do not participate in such chants and I believe this also to have been the case in the game against England.
“I would like to state one thing very clearly – since there have been reported cases of racial discrimination at the stadium in Sofia I, as Bulgaria national team head coach, would like to offer my sincere apologies to the English footballers and to anyone who felt offended.”
Reports in Bulgaria suggest Balakov could now quit after Football Union president Borislav Mihaylov was forced to resign on Tuesday.
The Bulgarian ministry of the interior yesterday confirmed “15 participants were identified in the unlawful event”, with some of the evidence collected using facial recognition software.
A statement said: “Six of them have been detained and three are wanted, two have been summoned and are expected to report to the police to testify.
“Work is under way to gather evidence for the other six.”