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Jesse Marsch has called on Leeds fans to be ‘more respectful’ and modify their controversial chant for forward Willy Gnonto.
Sportsmail revealed last week that complaints have been made about the song for ‘perpetuating a racial stereotype’ as it includes a reference to the size of the Italian’s penis.
It is understood Leeds are currently consulting with fan groups over the chant and want supporters to change the last line from ‘his c***’s f***ing massive’ to ‘he plays for United’.
Jesse Marsch has urged Leeds fans to modify their chant about forward Willy Gnonto (above)
Ahead of Friday night’s game with Aston Villa, Whites boss Marsch said: ‘We always want to be respectful. In our sport, it is so important to maintain high levels of respect.
‘I think our fans are great. They show passion, they want the team to be successful, they can be hard on the team sometimes and hard on me about what we are doing, and we understand that.
‘I love how much they love Willy. I will be walking around my house whistling the tune in my head sometimes. But is there a way to modify it to be as passionate but be more respectful? That’s what I would say.’
The song has been defended by some of the club’s fans and Clarke Carlisle, the former Leeds defender and ex-PFA chairman, has sympathy.
Leeds are consulting with fan groups over the song with the lyric ‘his c***’s f***ing massive’
‘We have to understand that the lyric talking about the size of a guy’s penis, the societal norm here in the UK is that it’s actually a compliment,’ he told Sportsmail.
‘But that’s something we have to educate around and against. We are trying to fight against those lazy stereotypes around race. Whether it is intended as a compliment or not, it is feeding into a standard stereotype that perpetuates the narrative.’
Gnonto, 19, is set to play at Villa Park, but fellow young forward Crysencio Summerville has been ruled out for a month with an ankle injury sustained from a nasty tackle by Cardiff defender Tom Sang last weekend.
Marsch is furious that the Dutchman and Gnonto – statistically one of the Premier League’s most-fouled players – have not been better protected by referees.
The 19-year-old Italian starlet scored his first goal for the club against West Ham last week
‘Opponents have tried to bully them,’ said Marsch, who welcomes striker Patrick Bamford back into his squad to face Villa.
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‘Frankly, I don’t think the referees have protected those two players well enough and it has put them susceptible to injury and to hard tackles.
‘I would like to see referees protect attacking players more. It is about managing it in the match to make sure that the players that most fans come to see have the best chance of being on the pitch.’
Meanwhile, Leeds are understood to have agreed a club-record deal worth up to £35.5million to sign French forward Georginio Rutter from Hoffenheim.