A 41-YEAR-OLD man was arrested today in connection with allegations of racist abuse by a Manchester City supporter during Saturday’s derby at Eastlands.

The man has been named in reports as Anthony Burke, who, according to his since removed Facebook page, works for construction company Kier Group.

Having tweeted on Saturday evening to say that the company was aware of a video circulating on social media appearing to show a fan aiming monkey chants towards Manchester United players during the Red Devils’ 2-1 victory, Kier announced that an employee has been suspended.

The message on Twitter read: “Kier has a zero-tolerance policy towards any racist and discriminatory behaviour. We can confirm an employee has been suspended pending an investigation.”

City swiftly issued a statement after the match saying the club was working with Greater Manchester Police, who announced yesterday morning that the man had been arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence.

The Football Association will also investigate and is planning to talk to the clubs, referee Anthony Taylor, the police and other relevant parties.

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “Fred and Jesse [Lingard] were in the corner, taking a corner, and I’ve seen the video, heard from the boys.

“We keep talking about it every bloody week. But he’s been caught on camera. He should, in my opinion, never be allowed into a football ground again and I’ve seen the video. Unacceptable.”

The issue of racism in English football has hit the headlines again almost exactly a year to the day since City’s Raheem Sterling was subjected to racially abusive language and threatening and aggressive behaviour at Stamford Bridge, an incident that led to a Chelsea supporter being permanently banned.

Former United defender and now pundit Gary Neville said the blame lies with Boris Johnson for fuelling racism in Britain.

“You are watching the Prime Minister’s debate where he is talking about migration to this country and people having to have certain levels. It fuels it all the time. It has got worse over the last few years in this country and not just in football,” said Neville.

He added: “[This fan] thinks he can come to a game and racially abuse someone playing football. It is disgusting. It is terrible and something has to be done. It is not just about banning him from football. Everyone has a responsibility.”

England’s players faced monkey chants and nazi salutes in a Euro 2020 qualifier away to Bulgaria in October, while earlier on Saturday there was an incident of alleged racist abuse by a supporter towards a visiting player at the League Two match between Forest Green and Scunthorpe.

Fred said the alleged incident at Eastlands showed “we are still in a backward society.”

“On the field, I didn’t see anything. I saw it only in the locker room afterwards,” the former Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder told ESPN Brazil. “The guys showed me. He even threw a lighter and it hit me. I try not to care about that. I try to look ahead.

“Unfortunately, this is happening in some stadiums. It happened here, it happened in Ukraine with some friends. It’s sad, but we have to keep our heads up and forget about that.

“We can’t give them any attention, because that’s all they want. I spoke to the referee after the match. They will do something about it and that’s all.

“We are all the same regardless of skin colour, hair and gender. We came from the same place and we all go to the same place when it’s all said and done. Thank God I have a lot of friends here in the locker room who hugged me, like Lingard. I don’t want to think about it. I just want to move on.”