The Chelsea fan at the center of allegations of racist abuse towards Raheem Sterling has denied he abused the Manchester City and England star.
Colin Wing, 60, from Beckenham, London, has had his season ticket taken away from him at Chelsea and says he has lost his job after a video of him hurling abuse at the Man City winger on Saturday went viral on social media.
It is claimed that Wing called Sterling a “black c***” but he insists he called Sterling a “Manc c***” in reference to him playing for a club from Manchester.
Wing and three other Chelsea fans who were next to him, who were also shown hurling abuse at Sterling, have had their season tickets taken away and have been suspended by the west London club. Chelsea and the police are continuing their investigations into the alleged racist abuse.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Wing had the following to say as he apologized to Sterling.
“I’m deeply ashamed by my own behavior and I feel really bad. But I didn’t call him a black c***, I called him a Manc c***. I’ve been going to Chelsea for 50 years now and, because of where I sit, I’m picked up on the camera most weeks. If I had a history of saying this sort of thing I would’ve been caught by now,” Wing said.
“Nobody around me said they heard anything. I want to apologize unreservedly to Raheem and hope he can be a better man than I am by accepting it. I offer him an unreserved apology. Even if it wasn’t racist, it’s not right what I said. Even the swearing is bad – but I got carried away. I was completely out of order, but I’ve lost my job and my season ticket now so everybody’s got what they wanted. So why can’t they leave me alone?”
After a Tottenham fan was banned for throwing a banana towards Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the north London derby 10 days ago, there is serious concern in the Premier League about a growing number of racist incidents.
Sterling’s statement on the incident and the coverage he receives from newspapers was strong and brave, and we hope that these isolated incidents can once again be eradicated from the game.
English soccer worked incredibly hard to try to stamp out racism at games which was rife throughout the 1970s and 80s. It appears the authorities and clubs need to work even harder to stamp out this kind of incidents in 2018 and beyond.
