'I couldn't focus' - Former Arsenal and Chelsea star recalls racism on England duty - video Dailymotion

Former Arsenal and Chelsea defender Ashley Cole recalls being racially abused whilst on England duty.

Transcript

00:00Because no one ever really spoke about it, it just kind of got brushed away and you forget about it.

00:05In-game, of course, it was affecting me.

00:09I couldn't focus, obviously.

00:12There was a little incident with the manager as well where he half froze aboard me.

00:16I don't know if you can remember it.

00:17And I've gone to run to get it off the sideline and he's either threw it away or threw it at me.

00:23And then I'm going to argue with him.

00:25And that kicks on again.

00:26Yeah, just mentally I just wasn't there.

00:28And I'm getting ripped.

00:29When you're seeing like nans and granddads, you know, doing the monkey chant at you in the crowd, it's like, oh, wow.

00:37But I had it before Valencia away, I had it as well.

00:39With Arsenal, one of my first Champions League games, it was similar.

00:43And it's like, how do you react?