Adrian Bevington insists it was right for England's players to speak out in unison against the London riots.
Managing director happy for squad to unite against riots
Club England managing director Adrian Bevington insists it was right for England's players to speak out in unison against the London riots.
The team had been preparing to face Holland at Wembley on Wednesday, but the game has now been postponed following anarchy in the capital.
The likes of Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney have tweeted their opinion on the violence, although on Tuesday a team message was delivered by Bevington.
It had been suggested that Ferdinand, from Peckham, would have been an excellent spokesman to speak out against the disturbing scenes, but Bevington says it was never about one or two individuals but the team as a whole.
Collective
"The view of the players was they wanted to be together as a squad as a collective," he told
Sky Sports News. "This ultimately is a much wider issue beyond football.
"We understand the power of footballers in particular on a young audience. It didn't seem appropriate from the conversations that one or two individuals would come forward. They were keen to speak as a group.
"I am the managing director of all the teams and the view was they wanted to come in as a group, they volunteered that. We all felt that rather than involving the players in a much wider social debate it was important that we had a concise message that called for calm. I delivered that on their behalf.
"I would like to praise the players on the maturity they have shown to this. They've shown they have an understanding of some of the issues that are going on.
"They expressed a lot of concern. What can happen then is the story becomes about one or two individual footballers instead of a much stronger message from the group as a whole. It's not about individuals here within the team."
