"?Jamie Vardy has complained that his racist tirade against a casino-goer last summer has left a 'permanent stain' against his reputation, claiming that the highly publicised incident was born of ignorance rather than racism.
The Leicester forward was videoed abusing an Asian man in a casino in July 2015, attracting criticism from a number of groups and a fine from his club.
Jamie Vardy calling Mike Dean a f****** bald c*** ?? https://t.co/P3W2xPC161
The "?Sun published an extract from his forthcoming autobiography this week in which the 29-year-old whined about his self-made reputation, saying: "Most convictions get wiped after a period of time. But there's no way of erasing what happened in July 2015.
"The word "?racist' is a permanent stain against my name. It's worse than a criminal record. Some people will never forgive me. Others will accept I made a terrible mistake and recognise I have learnt from it. It's on YouTube when my kids type in their dad's name and it comes up "?Jamie Vardy racist'. On Google, too. It's horrible."?
@ThatChris1209 Classic "I'm the real victim here" stuff from racist Jamie Vardy, who is a racist.
The England international continued to argue vainly against his reputation as a racist, saying: "I like a drink and enjoy being Jack the Lad. I've had a few scraps and spent a night in a cell. I can be a pain in the a***. But one thing I'm not, and never will be, is a racist.
"I looked in the eyes of the student I verbally abused and told him that. I needed him to see how sorry I was. I wanted him to know there was ignorance, not malice or prejudice, behind the word I used. I was angry at the time and I'd had too much to drink but I'd never have used the word "?Jap' if I'd known it was racist."?
For more from Chris when he's not writing on 90min, follow him on Twitter at @ThatChris1209