Former Premier League defender John Beresford has admitted he racially abused black players – including making monkey noises - from the terraces when he was young.
Beresford, who grew up in Sheffield before playing for clubs including Manchester City, Newcastle and Southampton, now works as a campaigner against racism.
The 51-year-old was awarded an MBE last year for his 20 years of work for anti-discrimination group Show Racism The Red Card, but confessed he was once a part of the appalling bigotry that blighted football in the 1970s and 1980s.
He told ITV: 'In the late seventies black players were few and far between, but I would be doing the monkey chants, and I would be shouting abuse, and things like that.