Responding to a statement by West Bromwich Albion winger Jonathan Leko, who was racially abused by Leeds keeper Kiko Casilla at the Valley back in September, many Leeds United fans are bemoaning the ‘worrying‘ issue surrounding racism in football.
Casilla, who was handed a £60,000 fine and an eight-match ban for racially abusing Leko back in 2019 (BBC), will also have to attend a face-to-face education session while being condemned to the sidelines. The 20-year-old winger, who is currently out of action with an ACL injury picked up during his loan spell at Charlton Athletic this season, has had to wait six months for the racism complaint to be dealt with by the FA – with journalist Phil Hay describing the issue as ‘worrying‘ in regards to racist abuse in football generally.
In response, as well as supporting Leko, many Leeds fans have taken to Twitter in full debate over the issues surrounding racism in football – condemning the handling of Leko’s situation.
One fan even described it as an ‘utter shambles‘ – here’s what they had to say on Twitter.
It’s bizarre because I don’t know any fans either that didn’t want it resolved immediately, one way or the other. Utter shambles.
— Jay Sharked (@JaySharked) March 4, 2020
worrying to read Leko say that the way this has gone would make him think twice about reporting racism in the future. Football should take comments like that very seriously.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) March 4, 2020
Need to rip up Kiko’s contract and get rid 👋🏼
— CWARDY (@c_wardy) March 4, 2020
To be honest I think every Leeds fan will agree that this has been handled really badly & allowed to escalate due to time taken, even to the point of putting out his guilt with out the report. Putting those out hand in hand would have made more sense.
— Morley white (@morleywhites) March 4, 2020
Why are Leeds not releasing a statement of their own? I’d warrant they are deciding on the internal punishment for Casilla, and will then confirm that at the same time as denouncing racism again and distancing themselves from the idiots abusing Leko & Bonne.
— Bielsa Bubb 💙💛 (@bellhouse_mike) March 4, 2020
Poor bloke. Shouldn’t be that hard for the governing bodies to support someone in his position. It absolutely should’ve taken how long it did – that’s evident from all sides.
— Rich & Katie Kins (@TeamKins) March 4, 2020
Should this issue have been dealt with much sooner? Join the discussion by commenting below…
