The potential signing of Enzo Fernández is problematic for both fans of this wonderfully multicultural club in this brilliantly vibrant, diverse city and Maresca.
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The player posted himself and his teammates singing a song racially abusing African heritage players playing for France. Fernández apologised at the time saying he got 'carried away'.
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That doesn't cut it for me.
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One can't casually get 'carried away' and join in with a racist chant if the racism is not festering there to begin with; one would and should be appalled and revulsed by it instantly. The first thing one does in that situation is be a man, call it out, and tell the people that are doing it that it's unacceptable, you shame them.
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Lionel Messi was such a man. They didn't do these chants around Messi because he had previously scolded them for it. They deliberately waited until their captain wasn't around to sing this song. This calculated evasion satisfies the legal concept of 'mens rea' proving a total consciousness of guilt and a deliberate intent to do wrong. Fernández played dozens of national team games alongside Messi; he knew exactly what boundaries he was breaching.
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Are the legitimate criticisms of Fernández's racism going to be addressed or just breezed past, ignoring the context of our Maine Rd roots? A location that has always been the first home of each wave of immigration since before WW2? In the city that dragged Oswald Mosley off the top of a bus and battered him when he tried to spread his bile here? In the city where the cotton mill workers unilaterally went on strike in support of Lincoln in the American war of emancipation?
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I remember being about 12 years old on the Kippax (1976-ish) and some kid shouting "You black bastard" at an opposition's black player on the touchline. Within seconds he got a crack across the back of his head from a bloke who, impressively without losing the 'pecked' Woodbine stuck behind his ear, then took hold of the kid's shoulders and said "NOT at this club".
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It is perhaps Maresca's first managerial and character test. This potential transfer comes with a turd attached that needs some serious polishing, and even then it won't shine and he could end up with shit all over his hands.
*For the non Mancs and youngsters
'pecked' means half smoked and saved, it was a thing.