Raheem Sterling: Chelsea suspend four fans from games pending further investigation into racist abuse
Chelsea will look into the incident before deciding what further action to take
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Your support makes all the difference.Chelsea have suspended four fans from games pending further investigation after alleged racial abuse against Manchester City and England forward Raheem Sterling.
The Stamford Bridge club have announced that four supporters will not be permitted to attend Blues games indefinitely until the investigation is complete.
Fans in the front row at Saturday's game were caught on camera abusing Sterling, with the player alleging that he was racially targeted.
A statement from Chelsea on Monday evening read:
"Chelsea Football Club has suspended four people from attending Chelsea matches pending further investigations into allegations regarding the behaviour of supporters towards Raheem Sterling during our match against Manchester City on Saturday.
"Our investigations into this matter are ongoing. We are fully supporting the police investigation and any information we gather will be passed on to them.
"Chelsea Football Club finds all forms of discriminatory behaviour abhorrent and if there is evidence of ticket holders taking part in any racist behaviour, the club will issue severe sanctions, including bans. We will also fully support any criminal prosecutions."
The player himself spoke out on Sunday complaining about the portrayal of black players in the media as a contributory factor in his treatment.
"I just want to say, I am not normally the person to talk a lot but when I think I need my point to be heard I will speak up,” he wrote.
"Regarding what was said at the Chelsea game as you can see by my reaction I just had to laugh because I don’t expect no better.”
Sterling posted two pictures to his Instagram page, showing Mail Online stories about Manchester City players Tosin Adarabioyo and Phil Foden buying new houses.
The story about Foden, who is white, has the headline: “Manchester City starlet Phil Foden buys new £2m home for his mum.” The story about Adarabioyo, who is black, has the headline: “Young Manchester City footballer, 20, on £25,000 a week splashes out on mansion on market for £2.25million despite having never started a Premier League match”.
“For example, you have two young players starting out their careers, both play for the same team, both have done the right thing. Which is buy a new house for their mothers, who have put in a lot of time and love into helping them get where they are,” Sterling wrote.
“But look how the newspapers get their message across for the young black player and young white player.
“I think this is unacceptable. Both [are] innocent, have not done a thing wrong, but just by the way it has been worded this young black kid is looked at in a bad light.
“[What] helps fuel racism is aggressive behaviour, so for all of the newspapers that don’t understand why people are racist in this day and age, all I have to say is have a second thought about fair publicity and give all players an equal chance.”
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