Karren Brady: We need to do more to stop racists, but I'm unsure about the Infantino plan

SERIOUS action must be taken against misguided football match spectators who attack players with racist comments.

Supporters? These individuals are not supporting anything.
They are sad, sick people and we must do whatever it takes to keep them out of our stadiums.

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I would support almost any sanction to prevent this, but I do have concerns about the method proposed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, which sets the stage for points to be deducted from any club whose fans brandish racist insults.

Maybe not a sledgehammer, but certainly a toxic substance. It is dangerous to play with reduction points.

Nottingham Forest and Everton are facing similar actions (again) and Manchester City could do so too if authorities finally take action to follow up on what are reportedly more than a hundred cases of mysterious something-or-other crimes.

Points deduction affects the structure of our football.
To remove them from the clubs for any reason other than putting the ball in the net is to cut down the goalposts and replace them with administrators.

As a country, Britain has made significant progress towards equality for all races and genders.

But all kinds of despicable racist behavior still exists.

Take the case of one man, who watched three of England's black players miss shootout penalties in the 2021 Euro finals. He then sent them vile racist insults on his Facebook account.

He was given a suspended sentence and ordered to pay £100 compensation – ridiculous considering his crime would have had a huge impact on the trio representing their country to the world and on their mental health.

Also think of Nazi signals from the terraces or the cheering that follows racist taunts. It's a bit surprising that no player has followed Eric Cantona and Eric Dier's 'get in your face between you' examples.

Clubs have worked hard to eliminate criminals and racists from our grounds.

There is no one who disagrees with taking strong action and we are all ready with stewards, standby police, evictions, education programs and bans.

But Infantino would have to shake a white shoe and come to a different conclusion.

Mine would be, with the greatest regret, to order the closure of the stadium in the event of blatant racism.

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Udinese in Serie A is an example. They have just banned four fans for life and will have to play a match behind closed doors after racist abuse was aimed at AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan last weekend.

Closed doors are rightly an embarrassment for supporters, and for the club involved it costs millions in gate, hospitality and catering revenues – let alone the millions likely to be lost to sponsors.

A much better way to encourage supporters to check each other and clubs to take more action to eliminate the dirt in the first place.

Football is a huge force in many people's lives, reaching all backgrounds, all ages and all sectors of life.

It's a game supported by billions, played by millions and nationally contributes £7.6 billion to the wider UK economy, creating more than 94,000 jobs.

Supporters can hiss and boo as much as they want. Even swearing is acceptable as long as it is not personalized or nasty.

We love football because it is “the beautiful game”, which may be a cliché, but sums up the fundamental love that has spread from our shores to the rest of the planet.

Just like race, gender and religion, color should not matter and racism has no place in the game. All players are professionals who deserve our respect.