TYRONE MINGS admitted he ‘might try to be the Prime Minister’ after hanging up his boots.
The Aston Villa and England ace, 28, is never afraid to back away from engaging in political and social debates.
And asked what he wants to do when his football playing career ends, the defender refused to rule out a transfer to Downing Street.
Mings, albeit slightly tongue in cheek, told Goal: “I might try to be Prime Minister.”
On a more serious note, he explained: “I am fairly open because retirement isn’t something that worries me.
“I don’t feel like I have to be shoehorned into a coaching role because it is all I know.”
Mings spoke brilliantly about the reason players are taking the knee.
And he slammed Priti Patel for ‘stoking the fire’ after Three Lions players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka received racial abuse after their penalty misses in the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy.
Patel had advocated against players taking the knee before kick-off and accused England players who did so of performing ‘gesture politics’, adding: “I just don’t support people participating in that type of gesture.”
Mings retweeted the Home Secretary’s tweet saying she was ‘disgusted [by the] vile racist abuse [that] has no place in our country’.
He said: “You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ and then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens.”
Mings, captain at Aston Villa following Jack Grealish’s summer transfer, knows lots of people want him to stay out of politics.
But he is determined to show these issues affect him and therefore cannot be put aside just because he is famous for his football.
Former non-League player Mings continued in his interview with Goal: “A lot of people don’t want us to go into politics too deeply.
“I get that people want football to be escapism and keep politics and sport removed from each other, but it will never be the case.
People think the bar is set low for footballers but there’s a lot of well-spoken, intelligent players
Tyrone Mings
“There were difficult conversations before the tournament about not taking the knee, attitudes towards the players or a lack of support. That stuff maybe gave us more drive but it certainly brought the England players together.
“In the last two years, we’ve had difficult conversations with people having to decide where they stand. The white guys are exposed to different forms of discrimination but not racism itself.
“These guys are able to see the hurt that it causes on their team-mates, though, and they want to stand up and put their head above the parapet as a [white] ally. That’s a real positive and it goes a long way to create a team spirit and bond between teams.”
The 15-cap international, part of the current England camp, continued: “People think the bar is set low for footballers but there’s a lot of well-spoken, intelligent players. You can’t judge knowledge just on how you speak.
“Look at Marcus Rashford with what he is doing. He doesn’t always come across as the most articulate but when you ask what he is involved in, then he is very knowledgeable on the subject. He isn’t just putting his name to it, he knows what he is talking about.
“As footballers, it is just about being authentic and getting that true reflection of who that person is. I am pleased football is giving me a platform to do other things in the future.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
