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| Josh Gowling said England should have walked off after some of their players were subjected to racial abuse |
The match was stopped on two occasions during the first half, the first of which was shortly after England defender Tyrone Mings asked one of the referee assistants, 'did you hear that'?
Monkey chants were heard throughout the first half, while a section of the home support were pictured making Nazi gestures.
Uefa have a 'three step protocol' in place, meaning that a game could be abandoned if there continues to be racist behaviour.
The first two steps were implemented due to the two stoppages and the PA announcer warned fans that the game would be abandoned if the chanting continued.
With England leading 4-0 at the time, around 50 Bulgarian supporters, many of whom were wearing black hoodies, were seen leaving the stadium and, despite there reportedly being isolated incidents of racist language after the break, the match continued to its conclusion, with England winning the European qualifying match 6-0.
However, Gowling believes that there will only be a real stand against racist behaviour if players left the pitch.
So let me get this right, theres 3 steps? So you get to be racist 3 times before there is something done like abandoning the game. What happened to a zero tolerance for racism.— Joshua Gowling (@joshgowling) October 14, 2019
Until a real stand is made like leaving the field of play, this is never going to change.
I dont want to hear any comments like we spoke to the black players and they wanted to continue. Take it out of their hands and dont come out for the second half. Make a stand gareth!— Joshua Gowling (@joshgowling) October 14, 2019
The commentator "this is a turning point" lol what you on about? The game still got played nothings happened. The protocol was successful, can someone explain to me how that was successful?— Joshua Gowling (@joshgowling) October 14, 2019