Paul Ince claims Raheem Sterling should talk to him about racism issues, not Gary Neville
PAUL INCE has told Raheem Sterling he — not Gary Neville — can help him beat football’s racist thugs.
Chelsea have banned four fans after Manchester City star Sterling told cops he was racially abused at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
In the wake of that, former England No2 Neville revealed Sterling had asked for his help during Euro 2016, over “vicious” abuse he was receiving on and off the pitch.
Now Manchester United legend Ince, who became the Three Lions’ first black captain in 1993, has offered to mentor Sterling.
He said: “If Sterling wants to open his heart up, it should be to someone like me because I know what he’s going through. I’ve been through it.
“He knows where I am, we aren’t far from each other. I live in Liverpool and he lives in Manchester – my door is always open.
“It’s the same with Ian Wright, John Barnes or Les Ferdinand — black people should talk to black people because they have experienced the same things.
“Myself and those guys can tell him how we handled it, what we did to deal with it, how it affected us and what we did to let it not affect us.
“Gary would give a different answer because he isn’t black – he can’t help Raheem with his experiences or how he is feeling.
“You can’t learn or develop as a person if you’ve got someone saying ‘well I’m not that experienced so if I were you I would do this’ – that’s no good.”
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Sterling is alleged to have been called a “f***ing black c**t” during City’s 2-0 Prem defeat at the Bridge.
Chelsea and the Met Police are investigating and the club have promised to impose severe sanctions on anyone found guilty.
Ince added: “When you see the Sterling incident you think ‘wow, that’s huge’ because it’s Raheem Sterling – but this shouldn’t just be a Sterling case. It should be broader.
“I don’t care who they are. Whether it is Raheem or someone from League One or League Two, if someone wants to ask me or the others ‘I can’t deal with this anymore, what do I do?’ then they can.
“It also goes for young kids in the Under-18 or Under-19 England set-ups going away to European countries.
"We can sit there and say, ‘This is what I did when it happened to me’.
“It starts by discussing what went on at places like Stamford Bridge - we understand what happened, it’s not right in the game and they should be punished by getting life-time bans as a deterrent.
“But you can’t always stop an idiot from opening his or her mouth, whether it’s on the street or in a nightclub or in a stadium.
“It’s always going to be there. We just have to stomp it out as much as we can.”
Ince feels like the perfect person to guide and advise Sterling through the problems and horrific abuse he faces after enduring a childhood of public and constant racism himself.
And it would follow him throughout his whole career, from making his debut at West Ham in 1986 before taking on extreme racists at Inter Milan in the mid 90s.
He said: “In my playing days I never really had that moment where I needed to go talk to someone because growing up as a kid, racism was just there for everyone to see. It was not just in football.
“It was hanging out on street corners and being racially abused. It was part of growing up and it was part of my culture. It wasn’t nice but you learned to live with it.
“I knew it was there. I experienced it on my debut for West Ham. You just think it is part of the game. It’s not nice but it’s part of it.
“I never felt as if I needed to talk about it though. I got past that stage as a kid and then when I went to Inter Milan that’s probably the first time I felt the full force of it. But I was older so I was ready.
“I remember playing against Cremonese and the fans were racially abusing me for about 25 minutes.
“I scored in that game but I injured my hip in the process and had to come off — there were monkey chants and the ‘n’ word and all of that.
“After the game the city’s mayor wrote me a letter saying ‘we apologise and it’s a disgrace’ but I was 28 and had broad shoulders. I’d already been down that road. I had the experience.”
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