Parker says Montenegro must be deducted points for racist chants against England

UEFA are under increasing pressure to severely punish Montenegro after racist chanting from their fans towards England players on Monday night.

European football's governing body confirmed on Tuesday that they have opened disciplinary proceedings against Montenegro, including a charge of racist behaviour, following England's 5-1 Euro 2020 qualifying victory in Podgorica.

Several England players - including Raheem Sterling, Danny Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi - were the target of racist abuse, with monkey noises heard during the match. Hudson-Odoi also had a lighter thrown at him.

Montenegro also face charges relating to crowd disturbances, the throwing of objects, setting off of fireworks and the blocking of stairways at the Gradski Stadion, UEFA announced in a statement.

The minimum punishment they can expect if found guilty of racist behaviour is a partial stadium closure, but former England defender Paul Parker has called for greater action.

Speaking to talkSPORT on Tuesday morning, Parker insisted that the only way to deal with racism is to hit Montenegro with a points deductions in a bid to stop them from qualifying for Euro 2020.

'The only way to deal with a minority is to take away what they like,' Parker said.

'Take points away, affect those clubs or those football authorities, affect them by taking away points so they can't have any opportunity to play in major competitions.

'Fines don't do anything and closing stadiums is just a waste of time, because that affects the away fans. Those fans made an unbelievable trip to not one of the nicest places they're ever going to visit, so you would be affecting them going to watch their national team play and that's not fair on them.

'We'd be allowing a minority to affect other people, and it shouldn't be that way.

'My opinion, unless something can think of something better, is just take away points and keep going every time it happens until that football association is all of a sudden running at a massive loss.

'And then they might start realising that if there's a chance football – the biggest and most loved sport in the world – could be taken away from them, clubs and politicians will start understanding they've got to do something about it, because their revenue and livelihoods are being affected all because a minority want to abuse people for the colour of their skin.

'Football and sport in general should be about human vs human, not about your race or creed. It's just about people doing something they love and giving people a show out on the field.'

Parker, who played for clubs including Manchester United, Fulham and QPR and won 19 caps for England, suffered racist abuse during his 15-year playing career.

Asked how he handled it, he said: 'By getting myself more involved in the game and proving that it was better than anyone out there on the pitch, and that seemed to hurt them more.

'If I was to sulk, say I wanted to come off, show emotion, it would have made me feel like they are winning.

'They're paying money to watch a black man on the football pitch, while I am out there're getting paid and if I win I get more – so who's the fool, me or them?

'My way of doing it was to stay out there and wipe more on them just to prove a point, 'you're not bothering me'.

'There were a lot of players during my time and we all had that mindset. There wasn't any thought of any player walking off the pitch, because we would have felt that we were playing right into their hands.'

Meanwhile, Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) praised the England players for their reaction in a match it said it had designated as 'high risk' prior to it taking place, and called for heavy sanctions.

'We commend the reaction of the England players involved, no human being should have to face abuse and vilification for their race or identity, something that many Montenegrins will understand from the divisive and bloody recent history of the Balkans,' FARE said in a statement.

'We hope that UEFA will act decisively, the sanctions that could be applied for an offence of this kind range from a partial stadium closure to full stadium closure.'

The FARE statement added: 'The challenge of tackling racism and other forms of discrimination in European football however remains an ongoing issue. The societal change and education that is the ultimate solution is slow to take place.

'Even in the countries of Western Europe where there has been investment and focus on these issues discrimination remains a stain on football.'

Kick It Out campaigner Troy Townsend said the incidents showed UEFA had 'failed the game' in its handling of racist abuse.

Asked for his reaction, Townsend told Sky Sports News: 'Outrage, because in this day and age we've had the opportunity to deal with this kind of stuff, we've had the opportunity to put some strong messages out about racism and UEFA have failed the game again.

'Not to take the gloss away from another great England performance but all the conversation now is how our black players were being racially abused and how there was no action taken at the time as well.'

Speaking after the game on Monday night, England boss Gareth Southgate condemned those guilty of racist chanting.

'We'll definitely deal with it in the right way. We've got to make sure we support our players.

'We had an excellent performance and we've got an 18-year-old (Hudson-Odoi) being interviewed after the game and he's having to respond to what's happened when his evening should be about the joy of his full debut.

'I'm told there were things in the early part of the game as well, though I didn't hear it then. I certainly heard it when Danny Rose was booked. It's unacceptable.'