Ex-Manchester United boss drops three nationwide workforce gamers for anti-gay chants

Former Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick has dropped three gamers from his Austria squad for the March worldwide break after they had been caught in a homophobic chanting incident.

The gamers, Guido Burgstaller, Marco Grull and Niklas Hedl, all of whom play for Rapid Vienna, had been filmed singing homophobic chants after Rapid’s 3-0 victory over metropolis rivals Austria Vienna final month. Videos of the chanting had been shared on social media.

In one clip, Grull may be seen alongside Burgstaller singing “Wir sind keine oaschwoamen Veilchen!”, which implies: “We are not little a**-loving violets”.

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After the movies had been shared, Rapid, Burgstaller and Grull all posted apologies for the incident. However, Rangnick insists they have to “seriously address” the difficulty. He introduced they’d not be included in his newest squad, studies the Mirror.

“This is something that I will not tolerate in a team where I am a coach, whether in a club or here with the national team. Everything we stand for with the national team is at the other end of the scale, and I told the boys that on the phone,” he stated.

“I expect them to take this issue seriously and understand what it means for people when they are publicly insulted or discriminated against in such a way.”

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While they apologised, Rangnick insisted an apology as “lip service” is “not an excuse”, although he did depart the door open for his or her return for this summer season’s Euro 2024 event in Germany. Rangnick added: “Everything else depends on the boys showing what they really think and where they stand in terms of attitude. You can say a lot, what matters is how the behavior looks like.”

The trio had been final referred to as up in October, however have been left at residence as Austria put together for friendlies in opposition to Slovakia and Turkey on the finish of the month. Rangnick has been Austria boss since April 2022, taking on the function after he left his submit as United’s interim submit, earlier than main them to qualification for the Euros.

He has now come down laborious on the three Rapid stars for his or her actions final month, which has led to Rapid being deducted two factors by the Austrian Bundesliga. Grull did situation an apology after the movies had been posted on social media, with the three gamers having additionally been ordered to attend three one-hour workshops in native colleges as a part of their punishment.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to personally apologize to everyone for the words said after the Vienna derby. As players, we have a certain role model function and we certainly didn’t live up to that in this situation,” Grull wrote. “For this I can only sincerely apologize and assure you that we will bear the full consequences. Like my fellow players, I also clearly distance myself from any kind of exclusion; homophobia must have no place in our society. Finally all that remains to say is: SORRY!”

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Rapid additionally stated sorry, with managing director Steffen Hofmann personally apologising to Austria Vienna in cellphone calls with their sporting director Manuel Ortlechner and president Kurt Gollowitzer. And membership captain Burgstaller admitted he had made a serious mistake.

He stated: “Unfortunately, we cannot undo this mistake. In this way, we would also like to clearly distance ourselves from any discrimination and homophobia and apologize to anyone who we have directly or indirectly offended through our behavior. We are aware that we have a role model effect, and unfortunately we absolutely did not live up to this role with our actions after the game.”