Simon Johnson hits out over racist allegation against Leeds United star Ezgjan Alioski
Ex-Leeds United player Simon Johnson has rejected the notion that Ezgjan Alioski was being racist towards Burnley’s Dwight McNeil on Saturday.
After the match at Turf Moor, which finished 4-0 to Leeds, Burnley boss Sean Dyche confirmed a complaint had been made to the FA about Alioski’s actions [Mirror].
McNeil appeared to lean over Alioski while the Leeds ace was on the ground, prompting the North Macedonia international to put his hands by his ears and stick his tongue out at the Burnley player.
Johnson has since taken to Twitter to share his thoughts on the matter, tweeting that “the facts are, the majority only talk what fits their own narrative”.
The former attacking midfielder, who went on to play for Darlington and Hereford after leaving Leeds in 2005, then posted a statement.
He said: “I am literally one of the proudest black people you will ever meet. My dad, who was born in Savanna Lar Mar in Jamaica, made sure all his kids understood their culture and would fly us over at every opportunity. Jamaica is my version of paradise and I took my daughter at the age of one so she could start to understand her roots also. Absolutely nobody can question how much being a person of colour means to me.
“I have no idea what Alioski’s intentions were, when in my eyes, he pulled a funny face at a Burnley player. If you dress everything back and take all things into consideration, you would have to be pretty stupid to call someone a monkey with your actions when there are so many cameras on you. It doesn’t make any sense.
“As black people, we understand that we also have a role to play where racism is concerned and calling for peoples’ heads when it is not needed is only going to delay our quest for equality if this is to continue.”
Over to the FA
Whether you think what Alioski did was harmless or not, the fact of the matter is that McNeil felt as though he had been racially abused on Saturday.
We need to respect that’s the way he felt at that moment in time and we also need to put some faith in the process to hear answers.
It’s not the first time this has happened to Leeds in recent years as last season, Kiko Casilla was banned for using the N-word towards Jonathan Leko.
The FA dragged their heels on that and took months to punish Casilla, leaving Leko frustrated with the process.
They need to be fast this time and by fast, we’d like to hear some kind of reaction in the coming days because we don’t want this to be left hanging over the heads of both McNeil and Alioski.
We don’t want to start saying McNeil made false accusations but Alioski has always come across as a playful person who’s not afraid to let his emotions out on the football pitch.
He’s a pain in the backside and at first glance, it didn’t look like anything more than a childish response to something McNeil may have said to him.
We’ll see what comes of it.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites have tabled a new contract offer to this frustrated player.