John Barnes, got to be honest but he was somebody I hated growing up, not because of the colour of his skin...I deplore racism, but because he played for Liverpool. He was racially abused regularly and frankly it was disgusting, It is hard to imagine being insulted and attacked for no reason on a regular basis because some knuckle dragging neanderthal can not get past the simple notion that you are different to them, still compared to what it was like generations before that we have come on in leaps and bounds. Yes racism still exists and is still a big issue but thankfully racism is no longer seen as acceptable...but we'll get to that at the end.
John Barnes has recently been very vocal about how there is a lack of black managers in British football so his conclusion is it must be down to racism, he points out that he can't find another job but if he was white then he would have had a longer spell in management. Interesting. Yes, there does seem to be a lack of black managers especially in British football but lets take a look at a few who were given way and above the average media attention because they were black.
Paul Ince had a spell as manager of Swindon Town and Macclesfield Town before his spell at MK Dons that was to spring board him into the media's eye. He took MK Dons to Wembley in the Football league trophy and then became League Two Champions. Top work, can't fault him on that and it lead him to be linked to (then) Premier League clubs Wigan and Derby...so far the opposite to not being considered for top jobs due to racial discrimination one would suggest. After his stock rose through MK Dons he was handed the job of a Premier League club - Blackburn Rovers, the first top flight black manager, but not the last.
However after just three wins in seventeen games the fans were not happy, they chanted that Ince did not know what he was doing and demanded a more experienced manager...not one of the calls or chants were aimed at his skin colour but because his teams were losing regularly and the fans did not want Championship football. Rightly or wrongly Blackburn acted as a lot of clubs do with struggling white managers and sacked him, whether clubs hand out sackings too quickly is another debate but one thing that is guaranteed is that his skin colour never played an issue. Ince then went on to have three uninspiring spells elsewhere - a return to MK Dons, Notts County and Blackpool...special note that at Notts County he was in charge when the club broke a new record of nine defeats in a row, at Blackpool he won just twelve out of forty two games. Hardly a record to have clubs beating down your door even if you were white and without the reputation as a big time Charley as Ince does, though his record shows clubs have given him opportunities and his high profile would give them extra attention in the media which is what most clubs want surely?
Then we come to Chris Ramsey, currently the boss of newly relegated QPR. Ramsey was a coach when Harry Redknapp left, Ol' Arry has a history of sending teams down so the blame for relegation does not fall largely at the feet of Ramsey. QPR did look for a replacement manager whilst Ramsey was caretaker manager and finally decided to give him the job to the end of the season, rumours have it he will be handed another year or two in the summer. Okay not a brilliant record but at least he has a chance, and if QPR do decide to hire someone else his experience will see him walk into another footballing job...what happens after that will decide on how he does as happened with Paul Ince.
Now for the main cheerleader of ending racism - John Barnes. After Barnes retired he was handed a managerial job at one of Britain's biggest clubs - Glasgow Celtic...not a bad start eh? Scotland was a league dominated by two clubs and local rivals who despise each other with a passion - Rangers and Celtic. In his first season Celtic looked a shadow of themselves and Barnes was sacked after a utterly humiliating Scottish Cup defeat at the hands of Inverness Caledonian Thistle...so in his first job he seemed out of his depth, or was he sacked because he is black? Never to be deterred Barnes went on to manage the Jamaican International team...hardly a huge job to be fair and he did a good job, well good enough for Tranmere Rovers to approach him as Barnes had publicly stated he missed club management.
So Barnes steam rolled the opposition at Tranmere, won over the players and fans then was sacked for being black right? Right? Erm, no. Winning just three of his first fourteen games and was sacked after a 5-0 drubbing at Millwall which was on the back of just two wins in his final eleven games. The fans and players never took to both Barnes or his assistant - former Liverpool player Jason McAteer and the players even dubbed them ''Dumb and Dumber'' due to their apparent clueless approach to running the club.
Yes, there is racism still in the British game and yes there is a lack of black managers...but...there is a warming large influx of black coaches entering the game and soon these will flourish into management, just as a few decades ago there were no black players playing for our national team and now it is even given a second thought what skin colour a player called up is. These things take time and forcing the matter leads to harming the cause such as fast-tracking Paul Ince into top flight football before he was ready and ruining his reputation and confidence, and seeing a first time manager pushed into a big job because of his name when he clearly isn't managerial material - Aka John Barnes. So no Barnes, you aren't in management because of racism...it is because you were/are shite.
On a final note may I add that the man claiming he isn't a manager anymore due to racism was the same shinning example of virtue who publicly defended Suarez when he was found guilty of...wait for it...racially abusing a black player. Oh my. He claimed that because labelling black people 'Negro's' in Uruguay (where Suarez is from) is apparently acceptable that we should not blame him and that he was a victim of a witch hunt. What Barnes forget to mention was that Suarez had been in Holland previously where using that term isn't deemed acceptable either and even Liverpool team mate Glen Johnson had said Suarez had used that term towards him in training. Firstly, what kind of club is Liverpool if a player can call a black player 'Negro' on the training ground and nobody pulls them aside and mentions it is unacceptable in England? Secondly, if it is acceptable why hadn't Suarez used that kind of language in public before? At a children's hospital? Media interview? Seems like it is only used by Suarez to insult and away from the spotlight...hardly something that is innocent then eh? Seems like using racism is fine if it is someone Barnes knows or played for his former club but unacceptable when clubs won't give him a top job despite his pathetic record in club football.
If a club has any sense they won't allow John Barnes anywhere near it.
John Barnes has recently been very vocal about how there is a lack of black managers in British football so his conclusion is it must be down to racism, he points out that he can't find another job but if he was white then he would have had a longer spell in management. Interesting. Yes, there does seem to be a lack of black managers especially in British football but lets take a look at a few who were given way and above the average media attention because they were black.
Paul Ince had a spell as manager of Swindon Town and Macclesfield Town before his spell at MK Dons that was to spring board him into the media's eye. He took MK Dons to Wembley in the Football league trophy and then became League Two Champions. Top work, can't fault him on that and it lead him to be linked to (then) Premier League clubs Wigan and Derby...so far the opposite to not being considered for top jobs due to racial discrimination one would suggest. After his stock rose through MK Dons he was handed the job of a Premier League club - Blackburn Rovers, the first top flight black manager, but not the last.
However after just three wins in seventeen games the fans were not happy, they chanted that Ince did not know what he was doing and demanded a more experienced manager...not one of the calls or chants were aimed at his skin colour but because his teams were losing regularly and the fans did not want Championship football. Rightly or wrongly Blackburn acted as a lot of clubs do with struggling white managers and sacked him, whether clubs hand out sackings too quickly is another debate but one thing that is guaranteed is that his skin colour never played an issue. Ince then went on to have three uninspiring spells elsewhere - a return to MK Dons, Notts County and Blackpool...special note that at Notts County he was in charge when the club broke a new record of nine defeats in a row, at Blackpool he won just twelve out of forty two games. Hardly a record to have clubs beating down your door even if you were white and without the reputation as a big time Charley as Ince does, though his record shows clubs have given him opportunities and his high profile would give them extra attention in the media which is what most clubs want surely?
Then we come to Chris Ramsey, currently the boss of newly relegated QPR. Ramsey was a coach when Harry Redknapp left, Ol' Arry has a history of sending teams down so the blame for relegation does not fall largely at the feet of Ramsey. QPR did look for a replacement manager whilst Ramsey was caretaker manager and finally decided to give him the job to the end of the season, rumours have it he will be handed another year or two in the summer. Okay not a brilliant record but at least he has a chance, and if QPR do decide to hire someone else his experience will see him walk into another footballing job...what happens after that will decide on how he does as happened with Paul Ince.
Now for the main cheerleader of ending racism - John Barnes. After Barnes retired he was handed a managerial job at one of Britain's biggest clubs - Glasgow Celtic...not a bad start eh? Scotland was a league dominated by two clubs and local rivals who despise each other with a passion - Rangers and Celtic. In his first season Celtic looked a shadow of themselves and Barnes was sacked after a utterly humiliating Scottish Cup defeat at the hands of Inverness Caledonian Thistle...so in his first job he seemed out of his depth, or was he sacked because he is black? Never to be deterred Barnes went on to manage the Jamaican International team...hardly a huge job to be fair and he did a good job, well good enough for Tranmere Rovers to approach him as Barnes had publicly stated he missed club management.
So Barnes steam rolled the opposition at Tranmere, won over the players and fans then was sacked for being black right? Right? Erm, no. Winning just three of his first fourteen games and was sacked after a 5-0 drubbing at Millwall which was on the back of just two wins in his final eleven games. The fans and players never took to both Barnes or his assistant - former Liverpool player Jason McAteer and the players even dubbed them ''Dumb and Dumber'' due to their apparent clueless approach to running the club.
Yes, there is racism still in the British game and yes there is a lack of black managers...but...there is a warming large influx of black coaches entering the game and soon these will flourish into management, just as a few decades ago there were no black players playing for our national team and now it is even given a second thought what skin colour a player called up is. These things take time and forcing the matter leads to harming the cause such as fast-tracking Paul Ince into top flight football before he was ready and ruining his reputation and confidence, and seeing a first time manager pushed into a big job because of his name when he clearly isn't managerial material - Aka John Barnes. So no Barnes, you aren't in management because of racism...it is because you were/are shite.
On a final note may I add that the man claiming he isn't a manager anymore due to racism was the same shinning example of virtue who publicly defended Suarez when he was found guilty of...wait for it...racially abusing a black player. Oh my. He claimed that because labelling black people 'Negro's' in Uruguay (where Suarez is from) is apparently acceptable that we should not blame him and that he was a victim of a witch hunt. What Barnes forget to mention was that Suarez had been in Holland previously where using that term isn't deemed acceptable either and even Liverpool team mate Glen Johnson had said Suarez had used that term towards him in training. Firstly, what kind of club is Liverpool if a player can call a black player 'Negro' on the training ground and nobody pulls them aside and mentions it is unacceptable in England? Secondly, if it is acceptable why hadn't Suarez used that kind of language in public before? At a children's hospital? Media interview? Seems like it is only used by Suarez to insult and away from the spotlight...hardly something that is innocent then eh? Seems like using racism is fine if it is someone Barnes knows or played for his former club but unacceptable when clubs won't give him a top job despite his pathetic record in club football.
If a club has any sense they won't allow John Barnes anywhere near it.