The Bulgarian Football Union has described Gareth Southgate’s racism concerns as”groundless, improper and unnecessary”.
Speaking in the aftermath of an alleged incident during England’s 4-0 win over Bulgaria at Wembley previous weekend, director Southgate said racist abuse was a”concern” ahead of the return game in Sofia in October.
England’s players can also be known by Sky Sports to get held discussions on whether to walk off the pitch future if some of them are the subject of comments.
However, the BFU has written to UEFA and Southgate’s boss, Football Association chairman Greg Clarke, to express its unhappiness at his comments.
The words of southgate came later Raheem Sterling was the target of abuse in Wembley past Saturday.
Following a rejoicing overheard him leaving an alleged comment involving the Manchester City forward during the 26, an off supporter was ejected from the floor.
“Yes, it is a concern,” Southgate said about the return game. “It’s something which we have already planned.
“We’ve already planned our program looks like and we’re going to talk about it with all the players until we proceed, because we are aware that there is history there and we would like to make sure that we’re all prepared for what could happen and exactly how we want to respond”
Next month’s qualifier will be England’s very first trip to Bulgaria since September 2011, when racist abuse in Sofia overshadowed a 3-0 win.
Ashley Young was exposed to monkey chants throughout that match, but the Bulgarian Football Union only received a 40,000 euros (#35,500) good by UEFA for”discriminatory” chanting and for its light and casting of fireworks.
However, the BFU has responded angrily to Southgate’s comments.
“The president of the Bulgarian Football Union Borislav Mihaylov delivered an official letter into the UEFA General Secretary Mr. Theodore Theodoridis along with the chairman of the English FA Mr. Greg Clarke expressing his indignation and disappointment following the public comments from Mr. Gareth Southgate and the hints that the English players will soon be subject to racial abuse by the Bulgarian fans in the upcoming European qualifier in Sofia on October 14th,” a statement read.
“The BFU views such behavior as groundless, inappropriate and unnecessary before the important and exciting football game which Bulgarian fans have been searching to in the past year.
“We’ve not got any official information regarding discriminatory language utilized by a Bulgarian supporter in Wembley Stadium.
“Even though that had been the case, however, we think that generalisations and also the development of needless tension by authorized members of this English team is totally unsuitable and in contradiction with the nature of mutual respect and fair play, the center values of both UEFA and the BFU.”
The Vasil Levski National Stadium will be partly closed for the latest visit because of the behaviour of their fans of England from the loss in the Czech Republic in June.
At least 5,000 chairs will be fresh for Southgate’s men’s trip and will instead display a banner with the wording’#EqualGame’.
Bulgaria’s return fixture against the Czechs is also due to be played in their other June fixture to Kosovo at a partially-closed floor due to racist behavior in the 3-2 home loss.
