Incoming Valencia boss Gennaro Gattuso is once again under the spotlight for discriminatory comments made in the past.
And, once again, rather than acknowledge and address the issue, he is attacking those who are highlighting them.
Before the season started, Gattuso was briefly linked with the then vacant Tottenham Hotspur manage role – but his candidacy was thrown out almost immediately after racist, sexist and homophobic comments he made in the past came to light.
Speaking in 2008, Gattuso said: “In-church, marriage should be between a man and a woman, even if this is 2008 and everyone can do as they please.
“I am someone who has believed in the institution of family since I was a small child and for someone who believes in their religion this [same-sex marriage] is very strange.”
In 2013, when then Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng walked off the pitch after suffering racist abuse, Gattuso was unimpressed and leapt to the defence of supporters. Speaking at the time, he said: “I’ve lived five kilometres away from Busto Arsizio for years and that area is full of foreigners.
“There are no racists in Busto. What happened yesterday was the fault of a group of imbeciles. How many times have there been boos against white players in the past? It’s happened to me to, but I didn’t give it any importance.
“Boateng certainly felt he was offended, but I continue to not see it as racism. It just seems to be the latest episode of collective idiocy from a minority.”
Later that year, when Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani agreed to share his role with owner Silvio Berlusconi’s daughter, Barbara, Gattuso suggested women should not have a place in football.
He told an Italian radio station: “For someone like Galliani there should be more respect. I can’t really see women in football. I don’t like to say it but that’s how it is.”
Gattuso made these comments. They haven’t been invented, yet he has so far refused to accept any responsibility for their existence and simply moved the blame onto those who are highlighting them now.
Following the negative reaction in the summer, the former Milan midfielder simply denied he is racist, sexist or homophobic. He told Il Messaggero: “I had to accept a story that hurt me more than any defeat or suspension.”
In doing so, he took the road of making himself the victim. More so even than the people offended by his comments.
Again, this summer, the comments resurfaced with his appointment as Valencia’s new manager imminent and he laughably used the signing Tiemoue Bakayoko while at Napoli as a defence for those calling him racist.
It just proves how little he understands the issue and with every comment attacking those who are highlighting and criticising his past comments, he emphasises his own ignorance.
Gattuso’s initial comments were highly offensive towards which communities which are frequently discriminated against – especially within football.
It could be that they are the only times in his life he has ever made any offensive comments. Certainly in public. But he did make them. And he needs to take responsibility for that rather than ignore the evidence and focus on other, irrelevant examples of when he has done things he believes show he isn’t racist.
Until he acknowledges his actions and addresses the issue, he is rightly going to face this type of scrutiny whenever he is in front of the media.