Tottenham defender Danny Rose has been grateful for the support he received in the wake of comments he made last week about his future in the game.
Rose said that he has “had enough” and “can’t wait” to quit football because of the way racism was handled in the sport.
Those remarkable quotes came following the abuse he received while playing for England in Montenegro, where Rose admitted he was expecting to be targeted.
A devastating indictment of the state of the game as seen by one of our finest players.#KickItOut25 Danny Rose on racism: Tottenham defender 'can't wait to see the back of football' – https://t.co/nqKNL4tac8 — Kick It Out (@kickitout) April 4, 2019
The 28-year-old unsurprisingly hit the headlines and he has welcomed the response.
“Obviously it’s been great,” he said. “Despite what people think, I feel a bit uncomfortable with the headlines.
“But it is an unfortunate thing that’s happening now in football. We saw it at the weekend in the Championship, and it looks like it’s something that’s creeping back in.
“I had some great support throughout the week, and I hope that once the season’s finished people can sit down and discuss how to eradicate these unfortunate things that are happening now in football.
“It’s a shame, really. But I’ve had some great support and would like to thank everyone who’s shown me that support.”
Rose was in action for the first time since his revelation as Spurs beat Manchester City 1-0 in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday.
The full-back gave away a first-half penalty, which VAR awarded, but saw Sergio Aguero’s spot-kick saved by Hugo Lloris.
Spurs won the game near the end as Son Heung-min gave his side the advantage going into next week’s second leg in Manchester.
Son, who also scored the first goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last week, made it two wins from two in their new home and Rose thinks it could become a fortress.
⚽ First @premierleague goalscorer at our new home. ⚽ First @ChampionsLeague goalscorer at our new home.#UCL ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/BinDytoUNV — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) April 10, 2019
“Last week when we played Palace, the atmosphere was brilliant,” he said.
“And when Hugo saved the penalty, my ears were buzzing because of the fans and how loud it was.
“The plan is to get the stadium back to being a fortress. If you remember the last season at the old White Hart Lane, we were unbeaten. That’s the plan now.
“To make it a fortress again, and make sure teams know that when they come here they’re going to be in for a game.
“Thank you to the fans for making the first two games at the new stadium very memorable.”
One away goal at the Etihad Stadium could put Spurs right in the driving seat and Rose thinks they will go and attack.
“It’s not in the manager’s DNA to sit back and soak up pressure and hit teams on the counter-attack,” Rose said.
“That’s not his game. He wants us to show our identity from the first minute, and it’ll be the same.
“We’ll go there to try and win. That’ll be the plan. He wants everybody to show their character, whether we’re losing or winning.
“And I can tell everybody now the plan will be not to go there and sit back. Because that’s not him.
“That’s not us. The tie’s not over, and we’ll go there next week fully looking to win the game and progress to the semi-finals.”
– Meanwhile, UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Tottenham after a supporter
invaded the pitch during the match against City.
The fan ran onto the pitch in the closing stages. He was confronted by City’s Fabian Delph before being removed by stewards.
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