His comments came during an episode of Sky Sports show The Debate
Gordon Strachan has equated the potential abuse that Adam Johnson, a convicted paedophile, may face if he returns to football upon his release from prison to racism.
Speaking on an episode of Sky Sports show The Debate last month, the former Scotland manager was asked by host Geoff Shreeves if he felt “it would be nigh on impossible” for Johnson, who was playing for Sunderland shortly before his conviction of sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl, to return to the game “due to the stigma attached to his particular crime”.
In response to the question, Strachan theorised whether Johnson being verbally abused for the crime that he has committed should be treated in the same way as people abused because of the colour of their skin.
Here’s his astonishingly stupid comments in full: “Here’s the thing, we’re talking vile abuse and things like that. Let’s say he goes out onto the pitch and people start calling him names, are going to do the same as with the racist situation? Is it alright to call him names now after doing his three years? Are we going to allow that to happen?”
Just seen this. Flabbergasted https://t.co/IIIwsMjLX2
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) April 5, 2019
It’s hard to know what to say in response to this, in truth. By “the racist situation” he presumably means racism, which is different to Johnson’s situation, in which he is a convicted paedophile.
You’d like to think that a 62-year-old man knows the difference between verbal abuse of a paedophile and racist abuse of people of colour, but here we are.
To make things even weirder, Strachan also went on to say that he would be willing to sign Johnson if he was still employed as a football manager, saying he would consider it if he “would if he’s shown genuine remorse”.
