The ugly side of football seems to have reared itself again as the issue of racist abuse in the game doesn’t seem like it is disappearing anytime soon.
21-year-old striker Marvin Sordell (pictured) has made claims that he and several other Bolton Wanderers players were racially abused by Millwall supporters during the clash between the two sides on Saturday.
Insulting remarks were mainly aimed at the ex-Watford striker, with fellow strike partner Benik Afobe, midfielder Darren Pratley and winger Lee Chung-Yong also reported to have suffered.
Investigations begin
On his Twitter account on Saturday, Sordell tweeted: “Chungy, Pratts, Benik and I had all sorts of things said to us. The police were standing yards away and did nothing…”
In another tweet, he lamented: “Putting the match aside, it’s 2012 in England and people are still shouting racial abuse at a football game!? #Shocking”
The Football Association has started its own investigation into what happened at the New Den over the weekend as have both clubs.
A Bolton spokesman commented: “We are now working with Millwall to investigate and the club have informed us that they will speak to the police and match officials.
Former Bolton player and Millwall defender Danny Shittu told Sky Sports News: “I know that Millwall is a club that works so hard on fighting these kinds of things.
“This is my second spell here and I know this is something that isn’t the way at Millwall. It is something that the club really stands up against.”
This is another unfortunate incident in an issue that has dogged the English game for the best part of a year now.
If they are found guilty, the Lions could face a hefty fine from the FA, or be ordered to play some home matches behind closed doors.
While it is easy to single out the troublemakers and ban these disgusting supporters from football grounds for life, this issue is becoming far more of an occurring nature in the past 12 months.
A strong president must be set and if found guilty, any club need to be made an example to show that the FA is really taking tackling racism and eliminating it from football very seriously.
Cardiff remain top
On the pitch, two goals from Darius Henderson consigned Bolton to a 2-1 defeat and their fourth away reverse of the campaign.
The pressure is starting to grow on Trotters boss Owen Coyle as his side languish firmly in the bottom half of the table.
Cardiff City remained top of the Championship on a quiet weekend in regards to goals being scored.
The Welsh club recovered from a goal behind to defeat Ipswich 2-1 at Portman Road in the evening kick-off.
Summer signing Heidar Helguson scored both goals for the visitors, as they aim for automatic promotion after three successive failings in the play-offs.
Leicester City had gone top briefly for a few hours following a 2-0 success at home to Bristol City.
David Nugent opened the scoring for the Foxes on 19 minutes and an own goal from Richard Foster sealed their fifth successive league victory.
Despite this recent surge up the table, there are still some murmurs at the King Power stadium about Nigel Pearson’s position as manager.
Bristol City boss Derek McInnes believes they will be right up there come the end of the season.
He said: “We lost to a better team and a team that will be in the shake-up for promotion at the end of the season.
“They look to me to be a team with the pedigree to be a Premier League side.”
Another stunning Saturday fightback from Palace
A second half strike from Bakary Sako took Wolves into the top three, as they recorded an excellent 1-0 success at Blackburn Rovers.
4,000 extra people turned up at Ewood Park for the first home match since Steve Kean’s departure but with no win in four games, their early season momentum seems to have stalled under caretaker manager Eric Black.
Former pacesetters Brighton have now not won in three games after playing out a dreadful 0-0 draw at Pride Park against Derby County.
Leapfrogging the Seagulls are Crystal Palace, who produced another stunning Saturday comeback to defeat Burnley 4-3 at Selhurst Park.
Once again, Palace trailed 2-0 at home inside half an hour but two strikes from Wilfried Zaha inspired them to a stunning victory.
The Londoners have now taken 19 points from 21 to defy the pundits who had them down as relegation contenders.
At the bottom, Sheffield Wednesday’s winless run stretched to eight games after a 1-0 home defeat to Hull.
They join Ipswich and Peterborough in the bottom three. After two wins on the spin, Darren Ferguson’s side lost again at home, this time 1-0 to an Andy Reid effort for Nottingham Forest.
With the top 11 covered by just six points after 10 games, the Championship is living up to its billing but it is dark matters off-the-field that continue to detract the excitement from the field yet again.
NPOWER CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Saturday, 7 October 2012
Birmingham City 0-1 Huddersfield Town
Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Wolves
Blackpool 0-2 Charlton Athletic
Crystal Palace 4-3 Burnley
Derby County 0-0 Brighton
Ipswich Town 1-2 Cardiff City
Leeds United 1-0 Barnsley
Leicester City 2-0 Bristol City
Millwall 2-1 Bolton Wanderers
Peterborough United 0-1 Nottingham Forest
Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Hull City
Watford 1-2 Middlesbrough
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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