Southgate tries to ease tensions after Bulgaria outburst
Gareth Southgate has attempted to defuse the racism row engulfing England’s European Championship qualifier in Bulgaria after their hosts demanded they be punished if their players walked off in protest during the game.
The England manager arrived in Prague ahead of tonight’s qualifier against Czech Republic to find he and his players had come under fire from Borislav Mihaylov, the president of the Bulgarian Football Union and former Uefa vice-president.
Mihaylov called for “measures” to be taken against “derogatory claims” made by Southgate and his squad about the threat of discrimination during Monday’s potentially volatile clash in Sofia.
Mihaylov wrote to Theodore Theodoridis, the general secretary of Uefa, to complain about the matter in a major escalation of the tension between the two countries.
Southgate tried to smooth relations, saying: “I can totally understand why the Bulgarian president feels as he does because we have purely been responding honestly to questions we’ve been asked.
“That will then be relayed however it may be in Bulgaria and the way that that’s pitched could appear provocative or appear that we’re the people who are laying the subject on the table. So, if I was him, and I was only reading those quotes and not knowing the context of why the things were said and the responses were said, then I would feel probably as he does.
“We are not trying to create a situation at all, far from it. We’re all hoping that over the next 72 hours, we’re just talking about two football matches. I think both countries would have a strong desire for that and I have to say again, we don’t look at other countries in a way that we don’t shine a mirror on our own.”
Southgate went on to reference the recent incident in a game between Hartlepool and Dover, when both sets of players were almost taken off the pitch because of alleged racist abuse from the stands.
He said: “What happened in Hartlepool a couple of weeks ago was probably worse than things I’ve seen or heard about in many other countries in the world. So, I think we have to be very careful in how we cover everything.”
Mihaylov, the former Bulgaria goalkeeper, had already written to Uefa and the Football Association last month to vent his “indignation and disappointment” after Southgate said England would “prepare” how to react to any racism during Monday’s game.
The match will be played in a partially closed stadium after the home fans’ bigotry at two games in June. Independent anti-discrimination monitors will be in the crowd.
But all this did not stop Mihaylov sending an even more strongly worded letter to Theodoridis, highlighting English football’s own problems with racism and “England’s ongoing battle with hooliganism”.
Attaching news articles in which Southgate’s players have openly discussed the potential for abuse in Bulgaria and how they could leave the field, Mihaylov said the idea “should be punishable according to the Uefa disciplinary regulations”.
He added: “We are extremely shocked at all efforts to involve and even mark out the Bulgarian spectators as potential troublemakers. The Bulgarian Football Union’s energy in battling racism in the last decade has proven to be effective as there has not been a single recent incident during a national team game involving hatred or discrimination due to skin colour, race, religion or political views.”
Mihaylov claimed that, after his letter last month, FA chairman Greg Clarke had informed him Southgate’s concerns mainly focused on a sanction Bulgaria received for monkey chants aimed at England’s players in Bulgaria in 2011.
Southgate briefed England’s players this week about how to respond to racism from the stands during tonight’s game in the Czech Republic and Monday’s in Bulgaria.
That was after players did not follow the correct process in their last away game in Montenegro, which was marred by monkey chanting by home fans and sparked threats of walk-offs at future fixtures.