I called racists uneducated and that’s what they are. They have black players in their own team .. it’s confusing
SCOTT SINCLAIR’S VERDICT
European football, the promise of trophies and the chance to work under a top-class manager in Brendan Rodgers.
The last thing he expected was sickening racist abuse from narrow-minded ‘fans’.
Sinclair was first targeted during an Old Firm game back in 2017 when a Rangers supporter made a monkey gesture at him.
Then an Aberdeen fan dished out more racist abuse when Celtic faced the Dons earlier this month in the League Cup Final.
The 29-year-old responded by calling out the bigots on Twitter, branding them “uneducated”.
And he has now issued a rallying cry to drive these “embarrassing” morons out of the game.
Ahead of a festive double-header on the road against Aberdeen and Gers, Sinclair said: “I called them uneducated and that’s what they are. They have black players in their team so it’s very confusing.
“It needs to stop and be shown as unacceptable to use racial slurs or abuse the ethnicity of players.
“It is embarrassing. It’s not acceptable for anyone to think they can use that language whether they are at a football game or in the street.”
Sinclair admits football is now more proactive at stamping out such behaviour.
There have also been some high-profile incidents down south in recent weeks involving Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling and Everton’s Yerry Mina.
And Sinclair envisions more change happening if black players continue to speak out.
He said: “It shouldn’t be happening – it’s 2018. But there is more light to it now, with Raheem Sterling experiencing it down south and speaking out.
“In the past players might have been racially abused and thought, ‘Never mind, I’m not going to say anything because nothing gets done about it.’
“But hopefully things start being done so that we can move forward. I’ve had a lot of support from all sides, all sorts of fans. They know it’s wrong.”
In a busy festive period leading up to the winter break, Sinclair will only get a fleeting Christmas morning with his family before going to training.
As the rest of us tuck into mince pies and mulled wine, the Hoops squad will be on a bus to Aberdeen.
But it’s one of the sacrifices that footballers make that is often forgotten about.
Of course, it helps when a couple of weeks in the desert paradise of Dubai during the winter break is just around the corner.
Sinclair said: “It’s not ideal but as football players this is sometimes what it’s all about.
“We’ll spend Christmas morning with our families, with our kids, then we will have to train in the afternoon and travel up to Aberdeen.
“It’s difficult but most of us haven’t had much time off on Christmas Day.
“I’ve trained on Christmas Day for God knows how many years and you just get used to it. We will get the chance to spend time with our families once we get into the winter break. “You just manage. It’s all about balance. “You have to play football and be professional. You come home and you have family life. “I’ll take the family out to Dubai, I’ll take the kids, my family and parents. “We’ll have a nice break and come back ready for the second part of the season.” Sinclair lifted the seventh trophy of his Hoops careerwith career with that League Cup win over Aberdeen.
And he believes that success can spur his team-mates on to beat the Dons at an ‘always loud’ Pittodrie in a huge game on Boxing Day.
Derek McInnes’ side have fired themselves back into title reckoning in recent weeks and Sinclair knows the Hoops face a stiff challenge from several sides this season.
Kilmarnock, Rangers and Hearts have all topped the table at some point this term in an intriguing championship race.
And Sinclair said: “We’ve good memories of beating Aberdeen in the final so we are going to go there, there give 100 per cent and andmake make sure we win.
“The atmosphere is great there, it’s always loud, especially with our fans. It’s great to play there. All the players look forward to these games and raise it.
“But we have pressure going into every game, because all the teams want to beat us.
“There is more competition now. Teams like Kilmarnock and Aberdeen are tough teams to play.
“It’s tight at the moment but it’s up to us to keep our game-plan and keep performing.”
The Old Firm clash at Ibrox is looming on Saturday and Sinclair is sad theHoopswon the Hoops won’t be roared on by their same size of support as usual. A spat between the clubs has seen the away allocation slashed by both sides for derbies.
But he insisted it will not change Celts’ desire to win the fixture they have dominated since he arrived in Glasgow in August 2016.
Sinclair said: “It’s such a shame that our fans won’t be there in the same numbers.
“Normally we have seven or eight thousand and, now it’ll be seven or eight hundred.
“We’ve just got to get on with it. Every game we want to win, no matter if it’s Rangers or Dundee.
“That’s why we’ve become champions – we don’t worry about anyone. We concentrate on ourselves and expect high standards of ourselves.”
They must be shown that it’s not acceptable
Celtic star Scott Sinclair has called on football to drive ve ignorant racists out of the game. me.
The Hoops winger has copped racist cist abuse from Rangers and Aberdeen fans ans since signing for the Hoops in 2016. After starring in a 3- 0 win over Dundee dee yesterday, Sinclair faces festive tripss to Pittodrie and Ibrox inside the next week. ek. And he wants more action taken to end an “unacceptable” problem. Sinclair said: “I called them uneducated ted and that’s what they are. They have black ck players in their team so it’s confusing. g. “It needs to stop. It is embarrassing. ng. It’s not acceptable for anyone to think nk they can use that language whether er they are at a game or in the street.” t.”