The players kneel because the Premier League tell them to do so. And the Premier League do so because they believe their sponsors want them to.

That's it. As simple as that. Purely a marketing gesture.

And its boring now. People need to start having to face up to painful choices when it comes to this notion of what 'supporting' actually entails.

Personally, been falling out of love with International football now for decades and I suspect this coming tournament, along with the utter farce of the next World Cup being held in Qatar will kill it altogether.

I genuninly dont care if England win, lose or draw anymore. And that saddens me, it really does.

How did footballers become inspirational social arbiters? Until recently they were overpaid boneheads whose interests were collecting Bentleys and Cristal bottles and spit roasting each other’s groupies - now they’re the social conscience of the nation.

Isn't the reality rather that's it's you guys who fear those who think differently.

You're the ones complaining about those booing the demonstrations you believe in.

You have no issues with your free speech but want to b1tch and moan if anyone else has theirs.

Yours comes from an actual fear of difference though. You fear other cultures and those who aren’t ethnically similar to you. You fear them because you think they want to change and takeover everything you believe in. You see the world changing around you and you are scared because it doesn’t look the same as it did when you were a boy.

We don’t fear this. We embrace the difference and listen and learn from those who are different to us and realise that hell, you know what, we’re not so different after all. We’re all just trying to love, be happy, and make a living to support ourselves in our families. It doesn’t make a difference where you are from, what you look like, what language you speak or what religion you may be. We all have way more in common than anyone might think or take the time to try and understand.

Southgate is an utter tosser. And those players only care about their sponsorship endorsements. Trust me, if one of those players refused to kneel, they would never play for England again.

You love them kneeling. I loathe it. And neither of us are ever going to change our minds with this divide in football now replicating what is going on in so many aspects of our lives.

This is now truly the new normal. C'est la Covid.

Southgate is an utter tosser. And those players only care about their sponsorship endorsements. Trust me, if one of those players refused to kneel, they would never play for England again.

You love them kneeling. I loathe it. And neither of us are ever going to change our minds with this divide in football now replicating what is going on in so many aspects of our lives.

This is now truly the new normal. C'est la Covid.

I don’t trust you and you are wrong.

Nor do I love them kneeling. I respect their choice and believe what Southgate said. He isn’t a tosser. We know the family.

Edited by Mapletree (08 Jun 2021 10.47pm)

You just ignore the actual statements and instead produce loads of hippy waffle.

Cool, you put your skirt on and put some flowers in your hair. You do you Castro.

How did footballers become inspirational social arbiters? Until recently they were overpaid boneheads whose interests were collecting Bentleys and Cristal bottles and spit roasting each other’s groupies - now they’re the social conscience of the nation.

I have far more in common with my old teammates from Sweden, Ghana and Eritrea than I do with a lot of you old Brits on here. Generational difference is far greater than anything else.