Joleon Lescott details 'insane racism case' that saw him turn his back on Kick It Out

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Joleon Lescott believes he'll be dead before there is any change concerning racism in football. The 43-year-old starred in the Premier League for the likes of Everton and Manchester City.

For most of his career, Lescott refused to endorse anti-discrimination organisation Kick It Out. This stemmed from an incident in 2007 involving ex- Newcastle star Emre Belozoglu.

The Turkish player was accused of racially abusing Everton's Joseph Yobo but was cleared. In a separate incident in 2014, Belozoglu was handed a two-and-a-half-month suspended prison sentence for a racist slur used against midfielder Didier Zokora while playing for Fenerbahce in 2012.

Lescott has now issued a damning verdict regarding how racist abuse is dealt with within the game of football, recalling the incident from 2007 and the hearing held by the Football Association, who work closely with Kick It Out.

"I don't think I'll be alive when there's any change. No chance," admitted Lescott, speaking on In The Mixer , brought to you by Sky Bet. "I just hope down the line, family members that are still involved in the game see change.

"I've said it enough times that I generally don't believe I will see a difference. I couldn't tell you the last player who has been convicted of racism."

Lescott continued, in discussion with anti-racism campaigner Troy Townsend: "I always had an issue with Kick It Out. There was an incident during Newcastle vs Everton in 2007. Emre Belozoglu, the Turkish player, said something to Joseph Yobo.

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"Me and Tim Howard heard it, went to the hearing and we were told we weren't allowed any representation. I hadn't spoken to Kick It Out before. I had nothing. I was told we weren't allowed any representation.

"Went there, got into the hearing. Me and Tim had to go in separate. We get into the room and Emre's there with five people. I was like, 'Oh, I can't bring in a club representative and he's got lawyers.'

"They said, 'We're going to take all day to deliberate.' Cool, no problem. The hearing was in Leeds. I live in Cheshire. I hadn't even gotten home and he'd been cleared. I hadn't even gotten home. I was just like, 'Yeah, this isn't for me.'

"For the rest of my career, I didn't wear any Kick It Out stuff. You know, the pictures at the start of the season, I wouldn't go in the pictures. If it were Show Racism the Red Card, I would turn the card around and face the other way so they could never display any pictures.

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"I said, 'You're not going to use me to do this.' The rules state that they don't care enough when I think it's three strikes. I think a player has to receive three incidents in one game before you could walk off. It's insane. If I pull your shirt twice, I'm off."

The FA's disciplinary panel dismissed Belozoglu's case after the charge was not proved. In an interview shortly after with the Times, Belozoglu said: "I am a Turk in England. We are ambassadors for our country. Just imagine how awful it would have been if I, of all people, had been found guilty of racism. It would have affected my career - and the careers of other Turks trying to go abroad.

"You know, in Turkish, there is a saying: 'Sling mud and the stain will never come off.' Well, I know in my heart that I am not guilty, but if you have such a conviction on your record, how do you ever get away from it?"

In 2012, Lescott, alongside Rio Ferdinand, ex-Reading star Jason Roberts and 32 other Premier League players, refused to wear Kick It Out t-shirts and boycotted the organisation.

Townsend, who worked as Kick It Out's head of player engagement, left the organisation last year and added: "I've got to be honest and remember I've scoured this game up and down right the way through.

"They don't like the conversation. The conversation is very, very hard to handle. Remember at the top of this game, whether it's Premier League, all of them organisations, there's no representation. There's no people that look, sound and feel like those who are being victimised.

"I just want to see a fairer system. And if we can get to a fair system, then football actually might take on its responsibilities. Because at the moment and for the time that I was in, no, I don't think it did."

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