Former Premier League striker Dave Kitson’s bid to replace Gordon Taylor as the Chief Executive of the PFA has been hit with significant backlash from a number of individuals involved with the sport.
Kitson hit out at the need for Premier League captains to act individually in their response to Coronavirus relief before then stating that he would be ready and willing to succeed Taylor, who says he will stand down after being in the job since 1981.
However, it appears as if Kitson will have little to no support in his bid, particularly after an old talkSPORT interview resurfaced on Twitter in which he launched an attack on Raheem Sterling.
Former Blackburn Rovers and Republic of Ireland midfielder Steven Reid was just one individual that took exception to the idea of Kitson leading the PFA. “Is this the same Dave Kitson that accused the likes of Raheem Sterling of “bringing it on themselves” after he was abused?” he wrote on Twitter,
“Yeah would love him fighting my corner.”
The interview that Reid was referring to took place on talkSPORT shortly after Manchester City forward Sterling was the subject of racist abuse in a Premier League match against Chelsea.
Kitson said: “I do believe that players make themselves a target. Why Raheem Sterling? There are other black players on the pitch, every single week.
“I just think that we have a duty of care to ourselves as footballers, to be a little bit careful with social media, and the way we portray ourselves.
Jealousy is an awful thing amongst the human race.
“I trawled through Raheem Sterling’s Instagram feed this morning to find that a lot of what he put on in his early days has now been deleted, and it was, ‘look at my cars, look at my house, look at this bathroom, look at this, look at that, look at me.’ And that’s going to antagonise people.”
Reid isn’t the only member of the football community to criticise Kitson, with Arsenal legend Ian Wright, ex-England manager Sam Allardyce and Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings also questioning the legitimacy of his campaign.
If the initial reception is anything to go by, Kitson is unlikely to be in the frame to replace Taylor anytime soon.
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