Aston Villa boss Dean Smith expresses pride over Tyrone Mings' handling of racist chants

Mings has earned wide acclaim for his conduct both on and off the field during Monday’s 6-0 win in Bulgaria, when both he and team-mates were subjected to vile racist abuse from home supporters.

The 26-year-old was the first player to bring the abuse to the attention of the match officials on a shameful night in Sofia.

Villa boss Smith said Mings’s mature approach came as no surprise to anyone at the club.

He said: “Having met Tyrone, brought him into Villa on loan and then signed him permanently and seen him every day, it does not surprise me how he handled the whole situation.

“He is articulate, intelligent but he is a very good human being as well.

“It did not surprise me. The fact he has come back here and trained and not said too much about it, I can only sing his praises.”

Smith continued: “I was extremely proud to see one of my players go and make his debut for England.

“I thought it was a really assured performance and the biggest accolade I can give him is that he looked like he was playing for Aston Villa.

“He was organising people around him, looked very calm on the ball. It was the sort of performance we have seen quite regularly.”

Villa fan group Project B6 will display a banner paying tribute to Mings during Saturday’s home match with Brighton.

It is the first game since the club publicly condemned a small group of fans, who chanted a racist song which references midfielder Marvelous Nakamba during the 5-1 win at Norwich earlier this month.

Addressing those chants, Smith said: “Villa fans are fans who know what is right and wrong. As soon as we knew about the chant for Marvelous, we came out with a statement straight away.

“A lot of our supporters condemned those who were singing. There is no colour at this club.

“That will continue from the top, all the way through. We are multi-racial, multi-religious football team and the players in the dressing room get on very well.

“There is a great team spirit and a connection between the players, staff and supporters. We have to maintain that.

“By pointing out what we feel is wrong as a club we have done that. Hopefully if the supporters hear things, or see something they know is wrong, they will point it out to the authorities.”