ONE thing about being a black person, which I am not but I think I’m right to say it, is that it’s definitely not against the law.

None of us get much of a say in the colour of our skin. If so, I honestly wouldn’t have picked out peely-wally when I turned 12 and my whole class at school got to enjoy our coming of age “Pigmentation Day”.

You know that guy John Legend? He’s an annoyingly good-looking black American musician. I would have gone for something like that rather than how I’ve turned out – which is appalling.

Adam Johnson (inset), the shamed footballer, also had nothing to do with his whiteness. That’s down to genes.

What he could have avoided, quite easily, was contacting a 15-year-old girl, while his partner was pregnant by the way, and being a dirty old man.

Was it a moment of weakness? The next day did the-then Sunderland player realise he had crossed a serious line and stop, before he did something very wrong?

No. Instead, Johnson met this girl, a child in the eyes of the law, 13 days after their first contact on social media, and he kissed her. He would later plead guilty, even before his trial began, to two charges of sexual activity with the girl and grooming.

This got him six years in prison. He was recently released having served half his sentence.

Comparing this crime to someone being black – or white, brown or green for that matter – is not only preposterous, it is also racist.

To put it simply for those out there who might not comprehend what I’m on about, say, a 62-year-old supposedly intelligent men with a wealth of world experience, being nasty to a person of colour is an abuse of human rights.

In stark contrast, convicted paedophiles who have seemingly shown little remorse for their crime do not deserve the same protection.

All of this brings me to Gordon Strachan whose media career is surely at an end after his latest, and worst, gaffe – which even for someone who seemingly doesn’t care who he offends was off the scale.

Most of you will have by now read or even watched footage of the Sky Sports interview when the subject was raised of Johnson and his potential return to football – which you shouldn’t rule out – and host Geoff Shreeves asked: “Gordon, do you think it would be nigh on impossible for him to return to football, if he was willing and physically capable, because of the stigma that would be attached to his particular crime?”

I happened to catch it live, and at this point I said silently to myself: “Go on, Gordon. Say the worst possible thing anyone could say at this moment.”

He didn’t let me down.

Strachan sighed and said: “Well here’s the thing then. You know we’re talking vile abuse and things like that. Say he goes on to the pitch and people start calling him names, have we got to do the same as it is with the racist situation?”

Paul Elliott was another guest. He is one of the more prominent campaigners against racism in football. Also in the studio was Sam Allardyce, who was Johnson’s manager at Sunderland, and who came in for condemnation for continuing to play Johnson when a trial date had been set.

Nobody said anything. So, Strachan decided to fill the awkward silence by adding: “Is it alright to call him names now after doing his three years, have we got to allow that to happen?”

Why would Strachan think some players shouting at Johnson for being a convicted sex offender be the same as a black player being abused on the pitch or, as has happened a depressing amount of times this season, from the stands?

There is no equivalence.

This is what England international Eniola Aluko had to say about it all.

“Strachan believes this is a valid point. Here’s why it isn’t. Being black is not a crime so racial abuse is always wrong. Sexual activity with a child is a crime so verbal abuse to Johnson is therefore completely different to racism. Unfortunately we need to start explaining why.”

That anyone needs an explanation about this is mind-blowing.

Strachan has apologised. Or to put it more accurately, someone else seemingly wrote a clever statement on his behalf. I’ve always been of the opinion that if you have made a mistake which is worthy of an apology, be an adult about it and make it personally.

Sky won’t use Strachan again. Neither should anyone else, at least until he explains himself in a sincere fashion.

Because right now, even just for a bit, he’s the guy a bit worried about how a convicted paedophile might have a few bard words said to him.