Rob Edwards has said his decision to take Tolu Arokodare out of the Wolves team for Friday night’s Midlands derby against Aston Villa was “purely tactical” after the Nigerian forward suffered racial abuse in their last outing.
Arokodare was one of four separate instances of racism across an “appalling” weekend in the Premier League last week, with the striker missing a penalty in Wolves’ 1-0 loss at Selhurst Park and subsequently receiving racist messages from several accounts.
Edwards stood in solidarity with his player in his pre-match press conference on Thursday, saying that Arokodare was “upset and angered” by the incident.
And for the visit of third-place Villa, Arokodare was named on the bench for the first time since mid-January, having started each of Wolves’ last five Premier League outings.
The Wolves boss, however, insisted that this was not for reasons concerning his wellbeing in relation to the abuse, saying: “It was purely tactical.
“He will be on the pitch tonight and I really hope he will affect the game. He didn’t start the last game against Arsenal and then really affected it when he came on, so looking forward to the same from him again.”
Police confirmed they were investigating a spate of online abuse directed at Premier League footballers last week, with authorities issuing a stark warning to offenders that they cannot “hide behind their keyboards”.
Kick It Out, the British-based anti-discrimination charity, reiterated its demand for social media platforms to take more robust action against such behaviour.
“This has been an appalling weekend after four players called out the racist abuse they’ve received on social media. But the sad fact is, we know it happens regularly,” the organisation said.
“The message from them is loud and clear: action must follow. Players cannot be expected to tolerate this behavior, and nor should anyone else.”
The Premier League also condemned the abuse, stating: “There are serious consequences for anybody found guilty of discrimination and we will offer our full support with their investigations. Football is for everyone — there is no room for racism.”
