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None of those specific situations apply here. Which should be obvious. Just a normal group of people, the only identifier they have in common is skin colour.

If I pointed at a group of black people, and turned to a group of white people and said "I f**king hate them lot", you wouldn't think this was racist because no specific identifying term was used?

No, they are French. That's sort of the point.

Is your question "why should someone who has been publicly racially abused stand up against racism in public"?

While we're at it, to the "some of you are easily offended" crowd. Your tolerance for racism is not the test of whether this should be considered racist (and by implication should be considered seriously). Perhaps the fact that a number of black people and people of colour are upset by this, and are describing it as racist should make you pause for thought?

It references race, skin colour, and ethnicity by picking out African (i.e. Black) countries. You'll note there is no mention of theo hernandez' background because he is of Spanish descent, and Spain is majority white/ white presenting. The song doesn't reference players of Algerian descent either because again that is not a majority black country. The song is racist.

Some people clearly have, implicitly and maybe explicitly too.

Mate. People absolutely should be highlighting racism loudly and publicly whenever they can. Protecting a corporate institution (which is what Chelsea is) is a terrible reason be silent about racism.

I would guess that he, as an African person, was expressing the debt France owes to the African countries it violently colonised. This is in the context of France's far right* becoming more prominent in the last few decades. It's quite a different thing. *a far right that has always rejected and attacked black people in their country, and whose stated policies amount to a rejection of the idea that black French people are really French. They are proposing policies, in other words, that would give real effect to the racist ideas in the song Enzo and his teammates were filmed singing.

Ah yes, now I see. It's a celebration of multiculturalism! Thanks for helping me see the light, Gol! Weird fernandez felt the need to apologise for what he calls "highly offensive language" then. Weird that various news media are describing it as racist then. Weird that a number of black French players have publicly described it as racist. Weird that Chelsea have put out a statement saying that they are against discrimination then, and that disciplinary measures against fernandez will be taken. It's almost like you have some kind of severe head injury, isn't it? Don't be offended by that, it's only me championing your ability to to dig ever deeper holes as you continue to excuse the inexcusable.

Been called a paki, definitely was racist, not hugely interested in going back there.

This is the song: ‘Listen, spread the word, they play in France, but they are all from Angola, they are going to run well, they like to sleep with trans people, their mum is Nigerian, their dad is Cameroonian, but on the passport it says: French.’ among other things, its message is that black French people aren't really French, and that their claim to bring French is fraudulent. It also deploys the white supremacist trope of foregrounding the physical qualities of people of African of descent. Yes, I think this is racist.

The bloke doesn't understand what racism is, and seems to think his own ignorance is a source of amusement.

The second paragraph sees you confusing xenophobia with racism, and the first paragraph is a load of false equivalences that betray your lack of understanding of racism (and why it matters). Would suggest you a) read some books, and b) consider racism in terms of impact rather than intent. @The Rising Sun I get what you're saying to a degree, however there has never been a time where paki was not a racist term. I don't think it is analogous with the black/coloured example you cite.

Different in a racist way? Something isn't racist just because the person saying it doesn't recognise or understand it as racist. Very tiring to see people try to minimise or explain away racism (and transphobia and homophobia for that matter). Makes me wonder about the overlap with people who say taking the knee or other anti racist initiatives are unnecessary. P. S. If your grandad used the term paki, be under no illusion, he was a racist.

Should be sacked. Won't be.

Quite incredible that they had months to carry out their due diligence on our new manager last season before hiring pochettino. Now we're told that the style of football pochettino has always favoured doesn't fit what the club wanted. The arrogance of these guys.

You can't really trust the club to get a decision like this right can you? That said, we should give the guy a fair chance. It feels very like the appointment of lamps the first time though, which is to say that there probably isn't enough evidence to judge whether maresca is any good. Par in his one season with Leicester, a short time in Italy which we can probably ignore. Worked for guardiola. Lovely voice. If the club have got this right it will be down to luck, not judgement.

Well... Despite being tentatively poch in, I'm not that sorry to see him go. Nice man though. Not hugely confident the leadership will get it right. I know the the reasons why people don't want him or think it wouldn't work but I'd absolutely love tuchel to return. I'd love it!

What you're describing is more of an overall strategy / framework / style IMO. My point is I don't think pochettino is especially good at identifying how to attack or defend against specific opponents, or how to adapt when the situation changes during a match. His strengths lie elsewhere.

Double post. (If it wasn't too late for Jackson to get his numbers up for the season, it isn't too late for me)

In. I have quite a few reservations about poch- I don't love the style of football his sides play, he's got an addiction to playing players out of position, and he's hardly a genius tactician. But that being said I think many of us, and i cant think of anyone more guilty of this than I, tend to examine and scrutinise every single decisions our managers take in forming our judgements of them. This lends itself better to managers like conte, tuchel, and Jose than it does to those like ancelotti, ranieri, and poch. The former are hyper-specific planners of press conferences, teams, tactics, and patterns. We can examine everything they do because every individual thing they do is considered and has has a specific intention. The latter group are philosophically different in their approach, and really only care about the overall / holistic improvement of the team. Met on those terms, pochettino has done well enough to deserve a second season. The spirit and cohesion in the squad, and the sense that there is a positive future and clear path to improvement is pretty apparent. This is far from where we were last season. I also think after all the churn in the men's football side, there is a huge risk in changing the manager yet again. Pochettino's reputation for working well with young players remains well founded, and though it isn't clear if he could be this team's Jose, it could be argued that he is this team's ranieri. Unless the ownership decide they want to depart from their approach in the transfer market, I'd say pochettino is still well suited to this team.

Legend. The people appointed to make our signings have a serious job to do.

Would be sorry to see him go given his obvious talent and workrate, but he's never really shown consistency for any great length of time, even when he has been playing in more obviously suitable positions than up front.

No, it isn't.