We have to deconstruct the idea of racial superiority. We have had it for hundreds of years so it is not going to happen overnight but we have to tackle it in the right way.

There are so many intelligent former black players, guys like Luther Blissett and Cyrille Regis, who never got a chance to become a top manager or a top coach because of the perception that surrounds people who look like them. They are black - which, for many, means they are good athletes but incapable of being anything above and beyond that.

History shows that black people have been second-class citizens, less than human. That's what had to happen with slavery. You had to dehumanise a person, to say, 'He is not like us. He is used to hard work in the sun. He can handle being whipped because he doesn't feel any pain. He doesn't need to be educated.'

People have been taught not just to have a negative perception of black people, but to have a belief in the superiority of white people. Their behaviour is the result of centuries of indoctrination.

Before we are footballers or fans, we are ordinary members of society. We are doctors, lawyers, milkmen, postmen, unemployed people, students... So why are they called racist football fans? Are they just racist for the 90 minutes of a match, when the other six days a week they're not?

I'm quite unfit. It's the motivation that's the problem, I need a goal. When I was a professional footballer I trained every day because I had to.

Why should racism go away when we are not tackling it in the right way? We are influenced by what we see in the world and what we see in the world is certain people being considered more worthy than others - and we continue to see that.

For a team like Brighton, just being in the Premier League is important. That is the name of the game.

Race, for me, should be social and cultural, rather than the colour of your skin. Anton Ferdinand would have more in common with John Terry than he does with some West African from Nigeria. John Terry will have more in common with Anton Ferdinand than a Slav from Eastern Europe who happens to be white.

My mother, Jeanne, was a TV and radio presenter in Jamaica. Bob Marley used to appear on her shows all the time and so she knew him quite well.

Talking about what any one section of our society has to do to combat racism just stops people outside that group asking difficult questions of themselves. We keep looking at symptoms and not treating the cause.

In the 1970s you would have had lots of black goalkeepers and defensive midfield players but never made it professionally because the perception was, 'You don't think too much, you can't play in positions of responsibility so you play on the wing or up front.' Lots were lost to the game because of the perception.

I remember when I was 13 or 14 friends coming over and my father telling them the benefits of joining the army. But he knew that army life wasn't for me. I was a little bit too laid back and lackadaisical and ill-disciplined.

I give balanced, constructive views and what happens is that bits and pieces of what I say are used against me.

Societies go backwards sometimes.

The only fight worth fighting is to give all children equal opportunities regardless of race or gender, to judge individuals on their qualities and not their backgrounds. The victory won't come when nobody feels able to voice racist abuse, but when nobody thinks of doing so in the first place.

While we have to take personal responsibility for our actions, I have a great deal of empathy for people who are unconsciously racially biased, and indeed count myself among their number.

Once you have players you like and a good enough squad there's no need to spend money.

How many black people are there in the higher echelons of any industry? We can talk about journalism, we can talk about politics. So why should football be any different?

I'm a big believer in fate.

The truth is that those at the top of British football do not care about getting rid of racism, they just don't want to hear it or see it.

Normally when you look at the Ballon d'Or winners, they're either attacking midfield players or centre-forwards. They are goalscorers and eye-catching players.

My dad was a proper old English gentleman, even though he was from the Caribbean. He used to stand up and salute during the Queen's Christmas speech.

I used to go to the school plays my kids were in, and who were the angels at Christmas time? The blonde, blue-eyed girls. Who was Mary? And the shepherds were all the black and Indian kids in the background.

If you are forced to give someone an opportunity when you don't want to, that's going to turn you even more against it.

You have to give 100 per cent in every game and you cannot give more than 100 per cent.

I've never bought a pint of milk in my life.

When you score a goal by dribbling you don't remember it because it is instinctive.

If you want to consider yourself one of the best teams, you need to be as close to the top as possible.

If you are black then you have to be better than your white counterpart to be equal. That's life.

I think Hazard influences the team so much that anywhere he goes you have to give him the ball.

I come from a very political and military family.

As much as footballers want to talk about how terrible it is for them, look at what's happening in the black community of kids without an education and who haven't got jobs.

From the perspective of what happened with Celtic people might argue that I didn't have the experience for another big job but I don't think my experience with Celtic explains why I couldn't get a job in the fourth division.

Football is a socialist sport. Financially, some may receive more rewards than others but, from a footballing perspective, for 90 minutes, regardless of whether you are Lionel Messi or the substitute right-back for Argentina, you are all working to the same end.

Football can do nothing about getting rid of racism. Society can.

Yes, my clothes don't reflect my personality at all. Because I'm a very straightforward and serious person. My clothes are much flasher than I am. Yeh. Yeh, yeh. It's a good contrast. I don't think your clothes should reflect your personality... keep people on their toes.

For a long time, images of black men with big lips and a round head were used to make us feel inferior, but it doesn't need to be like that, we don't need to self'loathe. We can change the narrative.

I don't have to manage a big club. That won't fulfil me. I will get more satisfaction from the work that I put in than where I am.

A white manager loses his job and gets another job, he loses his job, he gets another job. Very few black managers can lose their job and get another job.

I was a real fast food junkie - KFC, McDonald's - but all the training kept it off.

I am no different from a lot of people. I am concerned for the future of my children and concerned for the future of all children.

I moved into midfield because I ruptured my Achilles tendon and couldn't run anymore - it's not what I wanted to do, it's what I had to do!

Britain has always told the world that being British is about the humanity, compassion and moral fortitude that we have. All great things that we are supposed to have spread across the world. A leave vote now says that we don't really care about anyone else, we don't care what happens to the European Union.

Racism is never personal - it's about someone saying the group I am part of is superior to the group you are part of.

There are lots of different ways of playing football. It depends on how tall you are, what position you're in.

What I say about myself, black footballers or black pop stars is that we have been 'elevated out of blackness.' Because when people see us, they don't see us as being black. These are the issues that we should address.

Just passing laws saying you are not allowed to be racist won't work. You need an educational system in place.

I think Liverpool, when Coutinho left, they were a much better team.

As I've been saying for decades, as long as racism exists in society, it will exist in all facets of society. Until we eradicate it from society, football will be like any other industry.