The ill-feeling between Cardiff City and Crystal Palace is likely to continue after allegations that a a City player suffered racial abuse, which have been vigorously denied by Palace.
City say they don’t want to take official action after Bluebird striker Chopra was allegedly on the receipt of racial abuse as players skirmished in the tunnel after the 1 – 1 draw.
“Following the publicity that surrounded comments that were allegedly directed towards our player Michael Chopra after last Saturday’s match at the Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff City Football Club wish to draw a line under this issue and to look forward to tomorrow’s match against Coventry City.
There will be no further public statement regarding this alleged incident nor any action taken by this Club or any of its employees.”
Says the Bluebirds’ website.
Over at the Palace website, a statement says:
“Crystal Palace Football Club would welcome any FA inquiry into racist comments allegedly made by one of our players at Saturday’s match against Cardiff City.
“Crystal Palace is a multi-ethnic club and is proud of its history in this respect. We take great exception at the outrageous allegations being levied at us by Cardiff City players and management.
“We would like to make it known that we are 100% supportive in this matter of all of our players and definitive in our belief that none of them would make any racist comments.
“As a club we are fully behind the Kick Racism Out of Football campaign, as are all of our players.”
But former Bluebird Nathan Blake used his WalesOnline column to argue that City should go all the way with their concerns. “The club should launch action, insist on an inquiry and ensure the truth comes out, whatever it may be. It’s high time any players involved in this sort of thing should be suspended,” he wrote.
Palace’s local paper, The Croydon Guardian, reports Eagles’ manager Neil Warnock’s anger at the allegations, which he said wouldn’t have been raised had Cardiff got a good result. “We are very pleased Cardiff have withdrawn the allegations but still disappointed and angry that they came out in the first place. It angers me personally me when things come out like that.”
Expect it to be feisty when the teams meet in South London next spring – possibly with a lot at stake in footballing terms too.
