Roeder denies racism cover up
Posted on 19th January 2007
Newcastle United manager Glenn Roeder says that there has been no racist cover up. The Newcastle United manager has denied trying to cover up accusations of racial abuse by Turkish midfielder Emre.
Roeder on Thursday night issued a statement in which he admitted going into the Everton dressing room after the 3-0 defeat at Goodison Park on December 30 in an attempt to calm a heated situation. However, the Magpies boxx insisted comments made by Emre were unpleasant, but not racist.
“I strongly deny the allegations made in some of today’s newspapers that I was involved in a racist cover-up in relation to events that occurred during our match with Everton on 30th December 2006,” said Roeder. “At the conclusion of the match I went into the opposition dressing room to apologise for what had been an ugly incident on the pitch. I was doing the decent thing because I am sensitive to the image of the sport. At no time did I make any apology for racist comments because Emre had told me clearly what he had said, and while not being particularly pleasant, it was not racist.”
Meanwhile the Newcastle manager has warned his players they are playing for the black and whit shirt in their game with West Ham. Newcastle bombed out of the FA Cup in midweek thanks to a 5-1 defeat to Birmingham City. The United players looked drained both mentally and physically, and they will have to pick themselves up against a West Ham side lifted by an injection of new players.
“The players were in yesterday after Wednesday’s night’s defeat and they were as quiet as you would have expected them to be,” said Roeder. “Wednesday's defeat, and the manner in which they were beaten, has hurt them badly and left them wounded and we all know what a wounded animal does. It lashes out and that’s what we want our players to do tomorrow. They have got to show that they have strength of character and energy, mentally as well as physically.”
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