Smiley Culture

Divisive. For me, the wrong thing to do.

Definitely saw a Levski Sofia hoody amongst the black hoody dickheads.

Apart from Barton paying for him to leave the country?

I’m still going for no based purely on it being the 41st/42nd minute at the time of the stoppage.

No idea what the stewarding one relates to but the booing of a national anthem one is fine with me. A bit pathetic to boo an anthem, really.

It did feel like this was planned as there was no objections by this group when they left and they seemed to leave of their own accord and without being asked or led out by stewards or police.

Didn’t expect a prison sentence, so not surprised.

Be interested to know what your knowledge of racism in Bulgaria is like based off more than 90 minutes of Football. I’m not saying we’re worse but it shouldn’t turn into a playground spat of who’s worse or who done what. We have problems here, plenty in fact, many in normal life and not just in sport, I have no idea what Bulgaria is like.

I genuinely don’t think that’s the answer. Half the ground was already closed last night and I would bet that those that were responsible for the closure of the ground were responsible for the abuse last night, all they would have done is moved from a bit of the ground that was closed to a bit of the ground that was open. What happens when the ground is re-opened? The chances are, the perpetrators will walk straight back into the stands and the cycle will continue. Expulsion? Perhaps. I’d be tempted to allow them to take part in qualifiers, so their players can continue to represent their country and not to mess too much with the make up of Qualifiers, but regardless of the result, whether they win, lose or draw, they’re not playing for any points at all and the stadium is filled with kids from schools in Sofia but only after the Bulgarian FA/government/UEFA have organised sessions on racism.

Does anyone actually think that closed stadiums, forfeited games and bannings from qualification processes is going to solve anything? These people aren’t racist as soon as the turnstile clicks and they enter a football ground, they’re racist full stop.

Greg Clarke should get a new arsehole ripped for his bollocks about UEFA having people that want to get rid of racism. His pandering to the corrupt UEFA is abhorrent and he should be forced into handing in his resignation. That interview was a big moment, for me. He could and should have come out and ripped UEFA and their “punishments” apart because they’re not working and not strong enough but he pandered to them. Very disappointed in him.

Excellent from England. A response from Friday’s poor performance. The players won at a tough place to go to and had to handle a situation that no person or group should have to deal with and did so with class and decorum. Winks is an undeniable step up from Rice. An elegant yet understated footballer is Winks, I don’t get the general consensus that he’s a bad player. He seems to suffer from being the scapegoat, as was Jordan Henderson earlier in his career. As for the non-footballing matter of racism, as I said earlier, the protocol is good. It’s “worked”. I say it like that because while the abuse was less vocal and in fewer numbers in the second half, ultimately it hasn’t worked because the knuckle dragging degenerates are still roaming the streets and spreading their hate and bile. It did seem strange that they perpetrators seemed to up and leave though. As we all know, the punishment is never harsh enough. It never has been and I’m not sure this will change it either. You’ve got excellent footage there this evening of people’s faces clearly making racial chants and making nazi hand gestures, but as I said previously, does Bulgaria as a country want to eradicate racism? Will they making a conscious effort as a country, let alone as a sporting governing body? We can’t take the moral high ground because ultimately we still have racism here but there is efforts made to eradicate it both in the sport and in the country as a whole.

Sad that most people would have sat quiet in front of their TV’s waiting to see if there was a reaction. Thankfully not, it seemed.

What’s he done?

Got no problem with the protocol, it should be in place. It’s the punishment I have issue with. It’s rarely harsh enough and the actual perpetrators are going unpunished. With footage like BBC have, you’d think it would be easy to identify these people but then, do these countries themselves even want to eradicate this nonsense? Anyway, England are bossing it and are comfortable. Against a side that’s only lost 4 at home in 5 years and with the nonsense that’s gone on, to have kept their heads and got into such a position is testament to this lot as a team and individuals.