There needs to be accountability... we can only talk so much

Khadija Shaw on dealing with racist abuse, playing with Vivianne Miedema and City's hopes for the new campaign

- Suzanne Wrack

"It's difficult," says Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw. "Sometimes you have to take a step back and think about you and your mental health because if you're not in a good place you won't be able to perform. I wasn't in a good place. It was about more than what happened in that match. There's a lot that people didn't and don't know about."

Shaw is speaking for the first time about her decision to withdraw from Manchester City's League Cup semi-final against Arsenal in February, four days after she had suffered horrific racist abuse following a 4-3 loss against the same side in the Women's Super League. Manchester City said they were "appalled" and reported the matter to the police.

"It was pretty scary to some extent," adds Shaw, the WSL top scorer in the past two seasons. "But I'm lucky enough to have my family, my friends and those that care about me close. They've been there and supported me and helped me throughout that tough period."

The Jamaica international wants to see more done to protect players, particularly female players, who don't have the same levels of security or representatives to run social media accounts for them as male players do.

"There needs to be a lot more accountability as well because we can only talk for so much," says Shaw. "We can do our actions on the pitch but if it's the same cycle of abuse over and over again then they'll feel they can always get away with it. We need the higher-ups to do something because otherwise year on year we're going to see more of the same."