Hodgson issues powerful message on racist abuse in football

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson issued a lengthy and powerful message in light of the recent racist abuse of Wilfried Zaha.

Before taking on Aston Villa, Zaha shared a series of racist messages sent to him via social media. Hodgson condemned them as “cowardly and despicable abuse” on the day, and has repeated those sentiments today.

"As someone involved football at this level," he said, "I’m very proud of what the players have done, proud of what Kick It Out has done for the game and that’s not just since ‘black lives matter’, that goes back way beyond that.

"But the bottom line is these things are still happening, players are still being abused…