Tolu Arokodare scores and walks back to half-way line during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea at the Molineux. Copyright: ImagoxManjitxNarotra
Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach Rob Edwards has spoken out against the racial abuse suffered by Super Eagles striker Tolu Arokodare, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 25-year-old was subject to some odd remarks on social media after he missed a penalty in Wolves’ 0-1 loss to Crystal Palace last week.
The striker, alongside the club, have come out to condemn the disgusting act, which has surprisingly been on the rise since Vinicius’ altercation with Gianluca Prestianni.
Chelsea’s Wesley Fofana, Sunderland’s Romaine Mundle, Rangers’ Emmanuel Fernandez and Burnley’s Emmanuel Fernandez have suffered the same fate in the past week.
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Rob Edwards speaks on Arokodare receiving racial abuse
The Welshman mentioned he wouldn’t criticise the Nigerian striker for his penalty miss since he was the designated taker.
However, Edwards mentioned that the aftermath of the penalty, alongside the racial remarks, has been a burden for Tolu in the past week.
“It’s been a really difficult week for him. He was upset and angered by it, understandably so. We’ve supported him, and I’ve had a few individual chats with him; we’ve spoken about it as a group as well, to make sure that we get around him and support him,” the ex-Middlesbrough coach said in quotes revealed by Wolves’ official website.
“Then he’s had overwhelming support from a lot of Wolves fans and other people reaching out, which is really good.
“The Premier League have been in touch, so there’s support there, but again, we’re talking about something that we’re having to do far too many times.
“There have been several very high-profile instances over the last week, which is really sad.
“Since I’ve been a manager, there have been several times when my players have had to deal with this, and the sad thing about it is that all of them have had it before, and that’s really tough to hear.
“The unfortunate thing is that we can’t forget about it, because we’re going to be hearing about it again in the future, there could be someone this weekend, there probably will be, which is so wrong.
“Without knowing how certain things happen, how certain accounts can be opened or accessed or whatever, I know a lot of the abuse has come from accounts from maybe the other side of the world or somewhere else, and it’s difficult to track these people down.
“The authorities and the police know that Tolu will be asked to give a statement at some stage over the next few days, but it becomes difficult to stop that.
“Without going into the social media companies and the ones that are actually giving them the platform, and whether they can do more – I’m sure they can – then we’ll be hearing a lot more about it,” the 43-year-old concluded.
Wolves have won just one game in the English Premier League this season, and could match Derby County’s 2007/2008 record of just one win through the season, where they accrued only 11 points from 38 matches.