Man City’s Marc Guehi says taking the knee has lost impact after choosing not to kneel before Ipswich game

Manchester City defender Marc Guehi said on Monday, October 19, 2026, that the gesture of taking the knee had lost impact after he did not take the knee before City’s Premier League home game against Ipswich on Saturday, October 17, the first of two rounds dedicated to the competition’s “No Room For Racism” campaign.

Guehi, who is Black, has previously declined to perform the gesture, which was introduced in June 2020 to show support for the Black Lives Matter campaign. The Premier League has not required players to take the knee before every match since the start of the 2022-23 season and instead invites them to do so on certain occasions each season.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Guehi said it was “great” that the Premier League’s anti-racism campaign was continuing. “Whether more can be done — more can always be done,” he added. “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 footballers union], with the league.”

When asked if 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.” He declined to give further detail about his reasons for not taking the knee.

Another player who did not perform the gesture at the weekend was Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who stood while his teammates and opposition players for Manchester United knelt. After the match, which finished 1-1 and in which Calvert-Lewin scored, Leeds manager Daniel Farke said: “Dom is more or less like, No, I don't go down. I show my respect by standing up, more or less. I think each individual is different and shows respect for this campaign in a different way.”

The debate over the gesture has precedent: in 2021 Wilfried Zaha, then at Crystal Palace, said he would no longer take the knee and described the action as “degrading.” Zaha was quoted by The Guardian as telling the FT Business of Football conference: “I feel like taking a knee is degrading. 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.”

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters commented on the current initiative, which takes place during the U.K.'s Black History Month, saying the campaign intends to use “the reach of our players to send an important message: we are united in the fight against racism.”

Guehi made his remarks at a news conference the day before City’s Champions League fixture against AEK Athens.