Jordan Henderson admits England were on a mission to make Bulgaria ‘suffer’ after seeing team-mates suffer abuse
JORDAN HENDERSON and his angry England team-mates were on a mission to make the Bulgarian fans ‘suffer’ for their racist abuse. The Liverpool midfielder could not hide his fury — and even had a row on the side of the pitch with home coach Krasimir Balakov in Sofia. Henderson, 29, refused to reveal what he […]
JORDAN HENDERSON and his angry England team-mates were on a mission to make the Bulgarian fans ‘suffer’ for their racist abuse.
The Liverpool midfielder could not hide his fury — and even had a row on the side of the pitch with home coach Krasimir Balakov in Sofia.
Henderson, 29, refused to reveal what he said to Balakov, but admitted: “I was angry. The abuse was disgusting — it just should not be happening.
“Something needs to be done about it. But I thought the lads were outstanding and if I was angry, I’m sure they were as well.
“I thought we would let our football do the talking and we made them suffer. That is what we wanted to do.
“I wasn’t happy with the situation we were in.
“It wasn’t nice to be involved in it and it shouldn’t be happening in 2019 — it is just very disappointing.
“But at the same time I felt we as a team dealt with it so well.
“We touched on it before we came, just in case it did happen and, unfortunately, it did.
“We spoke and the decision was that we carried on because if we had left the pitch, they would have won.
“To hear the announcement about racism and the whole stadium whistling was a bit strange.”
It was certainly a shame Tyrone Mings will remember his England debut for racism as well as a decent performance in the 6-0 win.
Mings was the first England player to report abuse to the officials, turning to an assistant referee and asking if he had heard it.
Henderson said: “I thought he dealt with the situation so, so well.
“And it was also a top performance for his debut, I thought he was magnificent.
I was angry. The abuse was disgusting — it just should not be happening.”
Jordan Henderson
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AFTER 17 YEARS OF ’PROGRESS’ CAN WE REALLY TRUST UEFA’S WAR ON RACISM?
HERE are examples of how Uefa and Fifa have dealt with incidents of racist abuse in matches involving the England senior team and Under-21s.
Incredibly, when Uefa’s disciplinary committee fined Slovakia £27,000 after monkey chants were aimed at Emile Heskey in 2002, the governing body’s own chief executive Gerhard Aigner appealed the decision because he thought it was too lenient.
As a result, the Slovaks were hit with a one-game stadium ban, although the fine was cut to £9,000.
Yet, despite Uefa admitting it should impose tougher penalties, the list below shows little has changed.
OCT 2002: Slovakia v England (Bratislava). Uefa fines Slovakia £9,000 following racist chants.
SEPT 2003: Macedonia v England (Skopje). Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell and Heskey all subjected to racial abuse. Hosts fined £16,500 by Uefa.
OCT 2003: England v Turkey (Sunderland). Uefa fine FA £65,000 for fans’ racist language/gestures.
NOV 2004: Spain v England (Madrid). Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ashley Cole subjected to monkey chants. Fifa fines Spain £44,750.
JUN 2007: Serbia U21 v England U21 (Holland). Serbia fined £16,500 by Uefa after Nedum Onuoha and Justin Hoyte were targeted with abuse.
SEPT 2008: Croatia v England (Zagreb). Heskey again disgracefully abused. Fifa fine Croatia £15,000.
SEPT 2011: Bulgaria v England (Sofia). Monkey noises aimed at Cole, Ashley Young and Theo Walcott. Uefa fine Bulgaria £34,230.
OCT 2012: Serbia U21 v England U21 (Krusevac). Danny Rose abused. Serbia hit with a £65,000 fine by Uefa.
MAR 2019: Montenegro v England (Podgorica). Hosts fined £17,000 by Uefa after more monkey chants.
“We stayed together and handled it well. If one player didn’t want to carry on, we would have stopped playing — simple as that. No problem.”
Although Bulgaria were hopeless, England’s performance was far better than in Friday’s 2-1 loss to the Czech Republic.
Henderson added: “In football it is about how you react. You know you are going to get criticism along the way but as a team we stuck together.”