ENGLAND legend Ian Wright believes last night’s vile scenes in Bulgaria and England’s unified reaction to them resulted in a “great day for tackling racism”.
The former Arsenal and Three Lions striker spoke out in the ITV studio after the game – which the Three Lions won 6-0 – was SUSPENDED twice in the first half.
Raheem Sterling and Tyrone Mings were targeted by racist chanting, the defender yelling to the assistant ref: “Hey did you hear that?”
Wright said: “It’s a great day. It’s a great day, whatever anyone says.
“It’s a terrible day for the Bulgarian people and how they’ve been represented, but it’s a great day in trying tackle racism.
“Simply because we can see over that stand with that banner that means NOTHING.
“What we’re seeing is a group of fans who don’t care and need educating and that’s what’s got to happen.
“It’s a fantastic day because as a black player, you’ve heard it for many years about walking off.
“It’s something you do not want to do because you need your white players to do that for you.
“You can go off together, when that can happen you can see how powerful it is and you can do something.”
You can go off together, when that can happen you can see how powerful it is and you can do something.
Ian Wright
The game was paused twice as Mings complained about racist chanting to the assistant referee after 28 minutes.
Then on 43 minutes, the game was suspended again and England boss Gareth Southgate consulted the fourth official as well as his players.
Jordan Henderson had a heated discussion with Bulgaria boss Krasimir Balakov and just seconds later Raheem Sterling put England 4-0 up with a tap-in from Harry Kane’s assist.
Gareth Southgate had a word with the Uefa officials and asked them to start their three-step protocol over racist chants.
A large group of Bulgaria fans did leave the stadium before half-time, while their manager Krasimir Balakov claimed he didn’t hear any chants.
Attacking Uefa’s role, Wrighty added: “You see them there, that says it all about Uefa, you’re looking at a stadium here where it’s closed, which has done nothing to combat racism in this country.
“We’ve seen a set of people there that have no respect, they’re not worried about it to be honest and it shows Uefa for what they are.
“They’re not doing nowhere near enough and I’m so proud we’re doing what we’re doing at the moment.”
