Gary Neville has hit out at Boris Johnson after a number of England players were racially abused online following the Euro 2020 final.
The former Manchester United and England full-back took aim at the Tory Prime Minister after Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were sent vile racist abuse on social media following the game at Wembley last night.
Before every game in the tournament England players and staff have been taking the knee to highlight racial inequality and discrimination in society.
However, some people including a number of politicians say taking the knee is a political statement and has no place in sport.
Before the tournament a large number of England fans booed their own players when they took the knee before a friendly against Romania at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesborough.
The PM was asked at the time if he condemned the supporters who booed.
Following the match Johnson said he wanted the entire country to get behind the team but refused to condemn the fans who criticised the players.
Rashford, Sancho Bukayo Saka all failed from the spot on Sunday night as England went down on penalties.
The trio's social media pages were quickly flooded with racist comments, leading the Prime Minister and the FA to condemn the "disgusting behaviour".
Johnson tweeted: "This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media. Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves."
Appearing on Sky News earlier today, Neville said: "I'm just reading your breaking news, it says 'the PM condemns racist abuse againstEngland players'.
"Is that the same Prime Minister that a few weeks ago, I mean, Gareth Southgate and the players a few weeks ago about five days on the trot told us that they were taking the knee to promote equality, and it was against racism.
"The Prime Minister said that it was okay for the population of this country to boo those players who were trying to promote equality, and defend against racism.
"It starts at the very top and so for me, I wasn't surprised in the slightest that I woke up this morning to those headlines.
"I expected that the minute the three players that missed miss. The fact of the matter is there is an issue obviously in football there is an issue in society where we feel it's acceptable basically to criticise players for sporting actions because of the colour of their skin."
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