Former Leeds, Stoke and Bradford player Chris Kamara lifts lid on racist abuse at Portsmouth

The television personality started his professional football career as a 16-year-old with the Blues in November 1974.

Manager Ian St John bought him out of the Royal Navy – and the midfielder-cum-striker went on total 84 appearances and 10 goals during two Fratton Park spells.

However, Kamara insists he received racist abuse from his own supporters after initially breaking into the Pompey side.

He told Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday Show: ‘I started playing in 1974 as a 16-year-old, so you can imagine what it was like in the dressing room, what it was like with the supporters.

‘Pompey supporters are fantastic, but when I started playing for them, they had a small National Front element.

‘So not only did they boo me off when I was rubbish, they booed me onto the pitch.

‘When I left Portsmouth and was transferred to Swindon (August 1977), I had death threats when I played my first game, against Portsmouth, ironically.

‘I had to have a police escort to the game because they feared it was more than just a threat.

‘I've grown up with it, but I had to accept it. I had to accept it growing up as a kid, I had to accept it starting off in football.

‘But we're not going to accept it anymore. Nobody should be prepared to go through what I went through back in the day.’

Kamara went on to rejoin Pompey from Swindon in August 1981 for a second spell, with Frank Burrows then in charge at Fratton Park.

However, he was swiftly moved on to Brentford in October 1981, in a part-exchange with winger David Crown.

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