Dave Kitson labelled a 'caveman' for claiming players like Raheem Sterling 'make themselves a target' with social media posts

Former Premier League footballer Dave Kitson has been heavily criticised for saying players like Raheem Sterling ‘make themselves a target’ with social media posts.

Sterling appeared to be racially abused by a man shouting ‘f*cking black c***’ during Manchester City’s game at Chelsea on Saturday and the Metropolitan Police are investigation the incident.

It has sparked widespread debate and conversation about racism in football and how prevalent it still is, as well the media’s portrayal of young, black players following Sterling’s own post on social media about the narrative it causes.

READ MORE: Chelsea fan accused of racially abusing Raheem Sterling admits ‘deeply ashamed’ by his actions

READ MORE: Sterling abuse worse than what Beckham suffered: Neville

READ MORE: Chelsea suspend four fans over Sterling abuse

Kitson, speaking on talkSPORT, felt that Sterling’s previous Instagram posts – which he says have been deleted – antagonised people because they showed off cars, bathrooms and houses.

“You cannot condone this racism in any way shape or form, I think it’s disgusting,” 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.

“Now that is no excuse whatsoever for racially abusing somebody, but you sow a seed amongst people who are not racist, not to like that particular person, because they don’t want to see that in their faces every day.

“Now, when you go onto Raheem Sterling’s Instagram it’s ‘here’s a goal I scored last week, here’s me in a kids hospital.’

“So someone’s got hold of him and said, ‘look, you can’t do that anymore. But that seed has already been planted in people’s heads.”

Kitson’s comments were slammed by callers into the show and a number of footballers and ex-footballers have responded on social media.

Former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand responded with a simple ‘wow’, ex-Shrewsbury and Aldershot striker Marvin Morgan called him a ‘caveman’ and footballer turned broadcaster Paul Mortimer asked him to use the platform ‘wisely’.