Former West Ham and Sunderland player Anton Ferdinand, has given his thoughts on Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso’s decision to no longer take the knee.
The 36-year-old spoke to Sky Sports News and said: “I personally disagree with his decision.
“We’re in a fight and we need to be united in this fight.
“I don’t know the conversations he’s had with his teammates. But it’s been clearly explained. The reasons why players are taking the knee.
“That’s players of all colours and races and creeds. They need to understand that taking a knee is keeping this conversation going.
“We have to be realistic this is a process. And taking a knee is part of that process.”
?"We are in a fight and we need to be united in this fight." @anton_ferdinand reacts to Chelsea's Marcos Alonso deciding to no longer take the knee. pic.twitter.com/JKJ3XFnv0m
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 22, 2021
Alonso has chosen to no longer take the knee as he believes the act is “losing strength.”
Ferdinand has been subject to racial abuse in the past.
While playing for QPR in 2011, the defender was racially abused by John Terry, who was subsequently fined £220,000 and given a four-match ban by the FA.
The act of ‘taking a knee’ before football matches came to prominence in 2019 following the Black Lives Matter protests in America and the UK.
Since the Premier League resumed post-pandemic, players and staff have taken the knee pre-match to raise awareness of racial injustice.
Black Lives Matter is a political movement, a communist movement, has nothing to do with a black people.