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Football

09th Dec 2018

Rio Ferdinand has perfect response to Piers Morgan’s take on Sterling abuse

Rio Ferdinand has responded to Piers Morgan after the GMB host went on a Twitter tirade denying that negative headlines about Sterling were racist

Reuben Pinder

It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that Piers Morgan is at it again

Raheem Sterling’s statement this morning, posted to his Instagram in light of the abuse he received at Stamford Bridge last night, has caused quite the storm.

Well, the general response has been one of overwhelming support for Sterling, who has endured continued criticism for the most trivial of things throughout his entire career.

Sterling warned newspapers that their coverage of how black players spend their money in comparison to white players can “help fuel” the racism that we see in the stands at football matches.

The droves of front pages from the past few years that painted Sterling in a bad light have been doing the rounds on Twitter again, but professional provocateur Piers Morgan doesn’t think they’re anything to do with Sterling’s race.

Morgan claimed that all the same stories would be written of players like David Beckham, George Best and Paul Gascoigne, but Rio Ferdinand intervened to set the record straight.

The former Manchester United defender replied to Morgan’s tweet: “Comparing Sterling to Beckham, Best & Rooney is off the mark. The reasons for the spotlight and derogatory press they received compared to Raheem are like night and day.”

Ferdinand was one of many public figures to highlight the abuse that Sterling received during Manchester City’s loss to Chelsea last night, asking “Are we going to continue to allow this type of racist behaviour go on???”

Morgan responded, claiming that the media were not responsible for the abuse that Sterling received.