CARRY ON BOOING!

It won’t help us win, but it won’t stop us kneeling, insists Southgate

THE England team are determined to keep taking the knee throughout Euro 2020 even if sections of the crowd choose to jeer the gesture, according to manager Gareth Southgate.

A minority of fans booing taking the knee at Middlesbrough last Wednesday has further unified t he t eam, with Southgate meeting with senior players and then the squad on Friday.

The players and Southgate were heartened that the rest of the crowd at the Riverside drowned out boos with their applause and support for the gesture.

‘We weren’t prepared to take a backward step,’ said Southgate. ‘We feel that would be wrong and would be bowing to pressure from outside and we don’t think that’s appropriate.’

Scotland manager Steve Clarke revealed yesterday that his players could reverse their decision not to take the knee and he planned talks with his squad on the issue before their first game a week today.

Southgate said the players had explained so many times that the gesture did not represent some of the more extreme views of the

IT was so disappointing to hear some fans boo when England’s players took the knee — but it did not surprise me. In their minds, the knee has got too political. Trust me, the players do not see it that way. The fans need to understand that. If you are a player in that England side, you must have felt so let down. So misunderstood. They must be asking themselves: are you not listening? I am one of your players. You have heard me explain that all I am doing is showing my support for inequality and demanding an end to racism. I am not doing this to be political. There is nothing to boo.

If you hear and understand all that and still boo, there must be some racist elements to your actions.

This is so far away from the politics of the Black Lives Matter organisation, whatever that may be. It is just about equality in the game. They are doing this for their friends who are racially abused within games.

They are doing it for the monkey chants and the social media posts after games. They are doing it to support each other, white and black.

They are together for each other. Whether the team will continue to take the knee after this is a difficult question to answer. I can understand both sides.

I see the argument that says let’s not do it. Avoid further distractions. Make sure we don’t have to go into every press conference and answer questions about the boos. If the players decided to stop, I would understand.

But I would like to see the players keep taking the knee. Those boos are even more of a reason to do it. The whole point of fighting for equality is not to shy away, refuse to back down. There are a lot of leaders in that dressing room and I think they will feel there is a responsibility to stand up to those people. And what better place to do it than at a major tournament?

I would also like to see the fans try to understand what the players are saying and get behind them. The pressure is so high for England players going into a major tournament. Any form of negativity before a game will impact on the atmosphere. Booing your own team puts a negative energy on to the pitch. I want to see a positive energy. Put your feelings about the knee to the side. Support the team and their decisions.

Do you want your players to go into a tournament-defining match with a negative mindset? Imagine being Croatia, lining up against England at Wembley and hearing boos from the home fans towards their own players.

England supporters should be lighting up that stadium. We need to make sure any teams are scared of the cauldron of atmosphere and energy that fans can create.

We have to show Europe what we are about in a positive way. We came together in the reaction to the super league. I want to see that same spirit here.