Man City star Guehi says taking the knee has lost impact after opting against anti-racism gesture

A gesture that once united the Premier League is now dividing opinion. Marc Guehi and Dominic Calvert-Lewin both stayed on their feet this weekend, and Guehi says it’s time for football to do more.

Updated : Oct 19, 2026 20:37 IST , England - 3 MINS READ

Guehi has skipped the gesture before, introduced in June 2020 in support of Black Lives Matter since the Premier League moved to inviting players to kneel only on certain occasions from 2022-23. | Photo Credit: AFP

Manchester City defender Marc Guehi feels that players kneeling before matches may no longer carry the same weight, and he wants football to do more in its fight against racism.

The England defender, who is of Ivorian descent, stayed standing before kickoff in City’s home Premier League game against Ipswich on Saturday, the first of two rounds of fixtures devoted to the league’s “No Room For Racism” campaign.

Guehi has skipped the gesture before. It was introduced in June 2020 as a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, but from the start of the 2022-23 season, the Premier League stopped having players kneel before every match and instead invited them to do so on selected occasions each year.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, a day before City’s Champions League game against AEK Athens, Guehi said it was “great” that the league’s anti-racism campaign was continuing.

“Whether more can be done — more can always be done,” he said. “We have to see how we can move the campaign along.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a football issue. I think it’s a wider societal issue and football is that beacon of hope to try to get the message out. But whether more can be done, we will try, hopefully with the PFA (English Football Players’ Union), with the league.”

Asked whether taking the knee had lost its meaning, Guehi said: “Maybe. I haven’t been taking the knee for a while now, to be honest. I’d always clap, just because of what that actually signifies.”

Guehi gave no further explanation for why he does not take the knee.

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Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin was another player who skipped the gesture at the weekend, standing as his teammates and the Manchester United players knelt.

“Dom is more or less like, ‘No, I don’t go down. I show my respect by standing up, more or less,’” Leeds manager Daniel Farke said after the match, in which Calvert-Lewin scored in a 1-1 draw.

“I think each individual is different and shows respect for this campaign in a different way.”

Back in 2021, Wilfried Zaha, announced he would stop taking the knee, calling the gesture “degrading.”

“I feel like taking a knee is degrading,” Zaha was quoted by The Guardian as telling the FT Business of Football conference. “Growing up, my parents just let me know that I should just be proud to be black, no matter what, and I just think we should stand tall.

“I think the meaning behind the whole thing is becoming something that we just do now. That’s not enough.”

According to Premier League CEO Richard Masters, the current “No Room For Racism” campaign, which coincides with Black History Month in the U.K. is meant to harness “the reach of our players to send an important message: we are united in the fight against racism.”