Jump to content

Crooks- "English football should be ashamed"


Guest BooBoo

Recommended Posts

BBC rent a gob Garth Crooks has today stated that English football should be ashamed of itself after the finding that 2% of coaches/managers are black. I must admit my first thought was "not yet another race whinge", but would be interested to find out the mass opinion on this matter?

 

Cant include the Toon in this Garth, not after the best forgotten Ruud era.

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6375921.stm

 

Football 'excluding' black bosses

By Simon Austin

 

 

Garth Crooks says English football should be "ashamed of itself" because of the lack of black coaches and managers in the game.

 

A BBC Sport investigation has revealed that less than 1% of senior coaching staff at Premiership and Football League clubs are black.

 

"It's shocking that Paul Ince and Keith Curle are the only black managers in the league," BBC reporter Crooks said.

 

"We can't afford to exclude a whole section of society from coaching."

 

Crooks, who won two FA Cups and the Uefa Cup with Spurs, is now a football adviser to the Commission for Racial Equality.

 

He says he had considered a career in management when he finished playing, but a lack of opportunities led to him pursuing a career in the media instead.

 

 

"The opportunities are not there for black players at the moment"

Les Ferdinand

 

 

 

"I made the decision a long time ago that I would be better off making a career in broadcasting rather than management," Crooks said.

 

"I don't see why I should suffer the humiliation of not even getting a reply (to an application)."

 

Former England striker Les Ferdinand says lack of opportunity is still stopping black players going into coaching.

 

Although more than 20% of players at the 92 league clubs are black, only two managers - Macclesfield's Ince and Torquay's Curle - are.

 

"Doing your badges can take five years. Players don't want to give up that amount of time when there's no prospect at the end," Ferdinand told BBC Sport.

 

"The opportunities are not quite there for black managers at the moment."

 

Ferdinand, who scored five goals in 17 appearances for England, is currently taking his Uefa B coaching licence and the certificate in applied management at Warwick University.

 

 

606: DEBATE

" "

Simon Austin

 

 

 

"You don't tend to see black players on the courses," Ferdinand, 40, said.

 

"Most black players I've spoken to say the reason they don't go into coaching is the lack of opportunity.

 

"There seems to be the same thinking about black coaches as there was about black players in the 1970s.

 

"It used to be the case that a manager would look at a black player and think 'he's quick, we'll play him up front or on the wing'. They wouldn't give him a role in the middle.

 

"I think black coaches are being stereotyped in the same way at the moment. You see black people behind the scenes at football clubs, but not at the helm."

 

 

 

Ferdinand, who worked as a coach at Watford last season, says the circumstances of Roy Keane and Paul Ince illustrate the different ways in which black and white managers are treated.

 

Both players were combative midfielders who captained their countries and starred for Manchester United during their illustrious careers.

 

Yet Keane was handed his first managerial opportunity at Championship side Sunderland, while Ince was passed over for the Wolves job before taking the helm at Macclesfield, who were bottom of League Two at the time.

 

"Roy got a job at Sunderland straight away, and good luck to him," Ferdinand said.

 

"Paul Ince had a similar status as Roy as a player, yet he gets a job at Macclesfield."

 

Yet Ferdinand, who scored 382 league goals during his career, says he is determined to pursue a career in management and perhaps become a role model for prospective black coaches.

 

"I'm doing the badges and getting the qualifications - I want to be prepared," he said.

 

"I don't want a job because it's the politically correct thing to do. I want it because I'm the best person available."

 

Sorry Les, but I think that's bullshit.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Gemmill

If I had my way there'd be one less black bloke working for the BBC.  He's fucking useless with his overly earnest questioning technique and his eyes-on-stalks staredown.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Les is missing the point. Keane got the job at Sunderland mainly due to the fact that he was a former international colleague of the club chairman!!

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm sorry, but if black players cant be arsed to become managers then its their own fault. (Les Ferdinand has just said 5 years an no guarantee)

 

Its not like a stream of ex-black players are pounding down the doors of the FA coaching academy then swamping the country looking for jobs.

 

And still, qualifications do not guarantee jobs, this is not a Government workplace where they must meet the race quoter, its a harsh as fuk environment where only the best will make it, and sometimes even they fail.

 

So 5 years, taking a chance, and working your way up is a minimum requirement, and there are not many footballers willing to do that, especially this current generation which made enough to retire comfortably, the next lot even more so.

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Garth Crooks is such a knob. He's up there with Gordon Taylor in the blinkered stakes.

 

Oh, and Keane is at Sunderland and Ince is at Macclesfield because 1. Keane knows the Sunderland chairman well. 2. Keane, despite his rough-arse image, is actually quite intelligent and perceptive (see comments about prawn munching Man United supporters), whilst Ince comes across as being thick as pig shit and interested mainly in bigging himself up as often as he possibly can.

 

Ironically, I think it is Ince who is doing it the right way by starting somewhere so lowly. Look at Southgate at Boro, he'll doubtless fuck that up through inexperience, and struggle to get another top flight job again.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, everyone has the chance to become a manager/couch/etc but its all about the talent and dedication that gets you through.

 

Crooks is just wrong on this issue imo, its just excuses. No-ones stopping anyone from going into management. Best just shut up Garth, you're embarassing yourself a bit here.. :blush:

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Roughly 90% of England's population is white, so going by Garth Crook's theory that should mean that there should be no less than 19 players in the England squad that are white, anything else and it's a racist disagrace, right?

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

It'd be naive to think that there are no cases of discrimination, but I don't think it's the full explanation, or that the barriers facing a black manager are anything like as forbidding as Crooks is implying. Club management is a very competitive business and if any applicant is easily put off or isn't very confident, then they're unlikely to rise very far.

 

Crooks ought to bear in mind that if every black player took his attitude that there was no point in trying in the first place, then we'd have no black managers instead of two. He just isn't helping anybody here.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Roughly 90% of England's population is white, so going by Garth Crook's theory that should mean that there should be no less than 19 players in the England squad that are white, anything else and it's a racist disagrace, right?

 

Not knocking Crook out of hand....

 

But are there any statistics as to the number of blacks that have their coaching badges?  Comparing the relative percentage of qualified blacks vs. the relative percentage of hired blacks would be a better indicator. 

 

And how many coaches are actually English anyway?

 

Also, you probably shouldn't look at the relative percentages of citizens, but the relative percentage of footballers. In the US, blacks are a relatively small percentage of the population, but constitute 90% of the professional basketball players. For years, all the coaches were white. (And no badges or qualifications of any kind are required) Same goes for American football. Only in recent years has this problem (and it is a problem) been addressed.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest elbee909

Give us proper cases of discrimination, proper individual ones.  Anyone can look at a big statistic and draw a conclusion, doesn't make it correct.

Link to post
Share on other sites

when you think of how large the "black" percentage of the population is and compare it with the percentage of black professional footballers,it seems clear MR Crooks would have to assume that white people aspiring to become pro footballers are being unfairly tret.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Why is he just blaming English football though? I can't think of too many black managers in world football. Maybe Luxemburgo, Tigana, Gullit...not too many other high-profile ones though. Heck, even the African countries are appointing more and more European managers (Vogts, Lemerre, etc).

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Gemmill

Spain has a card-carrying racist as its national coach ffs.  Have a go at that lot Garth.  Give THEM your poppy-eyed stare and leave us alone!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Why should English football be ashamed if there are no trained black managers or coaches to choose. If black players are not taking the coaching badges then they cannot complain. There is only an argument here if there are alot of qualified black coaches that are being overlooked.

 

Ferdinand is a legend however, how does he know what will happen, maybe if he had taken a coaching badge he would be a high paid coach at the Toon??

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...