A brave Brighton fan and NHS worker broke down in tears on talkSPORT this week as he pleaded with footballers to follow COVID-19 lockdown rules.
The caller who is named John was expressing his frustration at the images of footballers who blatantly ignored COVID restrictions and flaunted themselves breaching COVID-19 regulations over Christmas and New Year by posting images of themselves with large groups on social media.
“I work for the NHS in Brighton hospital and I’ve seen people with COVID, it’s not nice, it’s not nice at all,” said John.
“Footballers are obviously very rich people, but it can affect anybody, it doesn’t matter whether you’re poor, you can get it.
“These people unfortunately do think they’re immune to it… let them come to work in a ward for one day, let them see… sorry…
“Let them see the people that are dying from this virus, and us who are having to fight to keep it going – they are the people who should be going to these places.
“If they did for one day, they won’t ever do it [break the rules] again, I can assure you.
“I’m sorry to get a bit emotional but people are dying because of these actions, they need to stop and they need to realise they can get it, it doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or not, if you’re a footballer or a normal person on the street, you can get it.
“And I can assure you, I’ve been on the frontline and I’ve seen it, it’s not a pleasant sight and it does you no good at all.”
The UK is currently under strict restrictions with most of the country in lockdown but some footballers seemed to think the rules didn’t apply to them and held parties with large groups over the holidays.
Giovani Lo Celso, Erik Lamela, Sergio Reguilon and Manuel Lanzini were among some of the footballers in question pictured spending Christmas together with their families.
Benjamin Mendy has also been criticised for holding a party on New Years eve which has led to an internal investigation being launched by Manchester City.
The UK began the new year with approximately 50,000 new cases a day which has led to the NHS being put under severe pressure.