Blues U23s manager and former England international Kieron Dyer says he witnessed “English football at its worst” both during and after Sunday’s Euro 2020 final at Wembley and firmly backs ex-Town defender Tyrone Mings’s comments regarding home secretary Priti Patel.
Dyer, 42, attended Sunday’s game in which England were beaten 3-2 on penalties by Italy after a 1-1 draw.
Following the match the three players who missed their spot-kicks, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, were on the receiving end of racist abuse on social media.
Dyer, capped by England 33 times during his playing days, said he saw the ugly side of football in this country.
"I was actually at the game at Wembley, I saw English football at its worst with regards to the fans before the game, after the game, rioting and trying to get into the stadium, just fighting each other in the streets, just drunken fights,” he told Mark Murphy’s breakfast programme on BBC Radio Suffolk (3hrs 17mins 37 secs).
"And when the penalties were going on, I don’t know if you’ve read my book, but I spoke about one of the big things about playing for England being the fear.
"And I feared for Saka as he was walking up. I wasn’t worried about him keeping us in the competition, I knew that if he missed the stick that would be coming his way would be vile. And that’s proven to be the case.
"I will say it’s a valid point that if a white player had missed a penalty he would have got stick, but I don’t think it would have been the level of stick that the three black players got.”
While home secretary Patel and prime minister Boris Johnson subsequently spoke out against the social media racism, the duo were widely accused of hypocrisy for failing to condemn fans who booed players taking the knee as an anti-racism statement in the run-up to the competition, most notably by former Blue Mings, who was a member of the Euro 2020 squad.
"England were taking the knee before games and the fans were booing,” Dyer continued. "The players, [manager] Gareth [Southgate] , Harry Kane, the England captain, they all came out and said this wasn’t a political stance, this was what the squad felt was needed to try and get a sense of people feeling equal, equal opportunities for black players, and the England fans were still booing.
"I think Declan Rice made a valid point, he said that when you’re winning, everyone can jump on the bandwagon, you find out who the real fan is when you lose.
"And again, it’s taken England to lose and three black players to miss important penalties and we’re here again with this vile abuse.
"I 100 per cent agree with Tyrone Mings, I think she’s a hypocrite, I think Boris Johnson’s a hypocrite, them coming out and saying 'this is all wrong'. They were part of the problem initially. They didn’t get behind this at the start when it needed it.”
Should Patel, Johnson and Ipswich MP Tom Hunt, who spoke out against taking the knee suggesting the England squad should be making their point in a different way rather than via "divisive political gestures”, have shown solidarity with the players from the beginning?
"One hundred per cent. When he [Hunt] says we need to come and show a different way of getting the message across, the only different message I can see is black players refusing to play for England,” Dyer reflected.
"OK, we’ll do that then and what is going to come from that? Black players suffer, the white players suffer, the England football team suffers.
"They came up with a policy they thought would work to show that they won’t stand for racism, it hasn’t worked and it’s sad that we’re here.
"The only reason I went to Wembley was because I wanted to witness history, I wanted to be there to say ‘I was there’ and I come out of that stadium with all the trouble that was happening seeing the ugly side of the English game.”
Regarding the social media companies, Dyer added: "I was on one of the TV platforms, it might have been Sky, and they asked me these same questions and I said it just goes to show how important racism is to certain people that when there was this European Super League, the whole country, every single presenter, every platform was up in arms going crazy about this - ‘they’re ruining our game’.
"It was like the end of the world. I wish they showed the same energy about racism and taking the knee.
"We had three days of staying off social media. Do me a favour. Why doesn’t every top sports star come off social media for the whole year? Let’s see what Twitter and Instagram would do then. I’m telling you now, they would help these people straight away because they need these superstar talents who have got millions and millions of followers.”