Former Leicester player Neil Danns speaks of 'disgust' at racist abuse from football fans

A former Leicester City player has spoken of his disgust at the ‘huge increase’ in discriminatory behaviour from fans at football matches. However, he believed the rise was far from surprising.

Neil Danns, who played for the Foxes between 2011 and 2014, made the comments at the Liverpool Against Racism conference, which was created in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Mr Danns said discrimination black players faced in the game was far from surprising, but that he still felt “disgusted” by it.

He made particular reference to the abuse suffered by three England players in the wake of the Three Lions penalty shootout defeat in the final of Euro 2020. He believed the defeat gave racists “an excuse”.

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“After we got knocked out, I remember thinking instantly ‘I know where this is going’. You could see the narrative that was going to be painted,” he said.

That abuse, which was directed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, led to anger from many, including politicians. Last month, one teenager was jailed for six weeks after he had sent racist abuse to Manchester United forward Rashford following his penalty miss.

Mr Danns said the incidents were far from surprising though.

“This was an excuse for the racists to come out of the closet. I was disgusted, as anyone would be, with some of the comments, but it was something I definitely wasn’t surprised by,” he said.

The former Leicester player’s comments came as Rishi Jain, equality, diversity and inclusion manager for Liverpool, said the biggest challenge in the last 18 months since Covid-19 struck had been fans relearning how to act in public.

“There has been a huge increase in