I do think there’s a general disparity in the way the English press report on certain black players. It was clearly evident with Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford. Not sure Jude Bellingham is the hill Ian Wright should die on though. Maybe I just pay less attention to newspapers these days, but from what I’ve seen the level of vitriol is nowhere near what Sterling, in particular, received.
Sterling's case is a complicated one. I think there are two things.
a) there was the grief he got from England supporters (some), because of the way he played for England. To be fair, he rarely delivered at anything like the same level he delivered at club level. But then, few did. (And I'll say straight out that I don't want to get into the Southgate debate with anyone on here on that one).
b) there was the largely separate phenomenon which, I think, was directly linked to the fact that a footballer coming into the prime of his career dared — yes,
dared — to walk away from the very cathedral of football to join another club. Another club, furthermore,
in the same parish. It wouldn't have mattered one jot if he was black, white, or orange. The baying dogs at the other end of the East Lancs Rd would have slavered, drooled and bared their fangs at him for ever and a day. What was puzzling, and disturbing, was to see it happening at many other grounds in the country. How other fans could have bought into that hatred — well, to this day, it's a mystery to me.