Gareth Southgate tells England to stop being hypocritical and deal with its own racism in football

ENGLAND manager has told the country to stop being hypocritical by pointing accusing fingers at Russia over its racism when the English football has not put its own house in order and treats its own black players on a racist manner.

Over recent weeks, the English media has stepped up its attacks on Russia following a diplomatic spat between the two nation s, after a Russian spy was killed in the UK. Heightening the tension further, British foreign secretary Boris Johnson said Russia hosting the 2018 World Cup was akin to Nazi Germany hosting the 1936 Olympic games which took place in Munich.

Some British commentators have even called on the England team to boycott the 2018 World Cup, citing how racist a country Russia is. More so than most other European countries, Russia has some of the most hardline racist football fans, who not only throw bananas at black players but some do not even allow their clubs to sign non-white footballers.

However, Mr Southgate highlighted the fact that there is still disgusting racist abuse in England, pointing to what England's teenage players suffer on social media as a prime example of why the country needs to get its own house in order before taking aim at World Cup hosts Russia. He highlighted a recent example shown to him by Kick It Out's education manager Troy Townsend.

Mr Southgate said: "I don't think we should just talk about racism in Russia, as we have got to get our own house in order. There are still things going on in our own country that aren't correct around racism, so, we keep pointing the finger at Russia, where we're going to be guests in the next few months but we haven't resolved the issue in our own country."

"I had a really interesting couple of hours with Troy Townsend a couple of weeks ago who came into speak to some of our coaches. He showed a picture of I think our Under-17s from a recent game that was put on social media and the comments about that team underneath were disgusting."

It is believed an Instagram post highlighting the problem was published by former England captain Steven Gerrard, showing racist comments posted under an image of the England Under-16 side that included his cousin Bobby Duncan. Mr Southgate said he finds it difficult to deflect away from where England are as a country when seeing such absolutely disgusting abuse.

Meanwhile, Labour MP David Lammy has criticised Mr Southgate as well as the Football Association for kicking the issue of equality into the long grass when they could be taking an ethnic minority coach to the World Cup. Professional Footballers' Association trustee Garth Crooks even said it would be a dereliction of Southgate's duty not to appoint an ethnic minority coach for the tournament.