Conor Gallagher ‘racism’ storm: Chelsea’s first black player Paul Canoville apologises for role in sparking online abuse at Blues midfielder

Gallagher was repeatedly called a racist on his Instagram account after a clip showed the Blues skipper seemingly ignoring a mascot ahead of their match against Burnley at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Chelsea defended the 24-year-old and said the video had been taken out of context, with pictures later emerging of the England international putting his hand on the youngster's shoulder. Now, Paul Canoville, who played for the west London outfit between 1981-86, has expressed his remorse at sharing the now-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter, which helped spark the racism allegations.

The 62-year-old, who has worked as an ambassador for the Chelsea FC Foundation, wrote on X on Wednesday: "Sorry to Conor and all blue bhoys [sic] n girls. I went too quickly to post this marn'. As you know I'm very passionate about equality for all. Much love."

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino leapt to the aid of Gallagher after the online backlash, saying in a press conference this week: "This upset me so much because no one wants to do something like this with this intention. He did really well with both mascots and when you are there, playing football, focusing on many things, as you start a game, sometimes that can happen. But people try to find things like this to create a mess. I know Conor, come on, he never has that intention. Conor is a great kid who cares about everything. I hate people who use social media to abuse like this. It is so easy [for them]."

Gallagher is likely to lead his Chelsea side out at Stamford Bridge against Champions League-chasing Manchester United on Thursday night, with the 12th-placed Blues looking to climb to 10th and even ninth with a big win.