John Barnes says being black has damaged his career as a manager

That simply isn't true. He's made a lot of sense with his views about race and racism. Where exactly is his 'own vested interest' when he said for example that the kick it out campaign won't stop racists being racist, it may stop them chanting in the football ground but it won't change their views on race?

 

Could you imagine what he'd be coming out with if he had gone through the turmoil of McLaren.

Did we see him doing what McLaren did? Or even Moyes? Go abroad or cut his teeth in the lower leagues? Deal with the setbacks and work his way back up? I have more sympathy and support for McLaren and very little for Barnes (if any). You can see a tryer a mile away and we need to recognise and reward the tryers ffs.

 

Don't try and tell me that a man of Barnes stature in the game couldn't have got a job anywhere in the football pyramid during that 8 year spell due to racism.

It's a ****ing insult to the game, that he's got the temerity to float that bullshit out there. When he desparately needed some coin he got a job, shocker that like.

 

Yep. In a thirty-six game season, they finished twenty-one points behind Rangers or if you prefer, 0.58pts per game less!

 

When I said 'recruitment process' I didn't mean in the ordinary sense i.e. how most places of work recruit. I simply meant how they go about choosing a manager because how ever each club goes about it there will be a 'process' involved.

 

My comment was in response to what Jimmy quoted and the Suarez case. Mate, if he had any real concern for racism and in particular the importance of "zero tolerance" he wouldnt have embarrased himself with his comments as a black man on the issue. None of that mattered bcos he put club loyalty first. At the very least, if his loyalties were divided, he should have just shut the fck up.

 

That's the whole point though isn't it? How do you know how many jobs abroad or in the lower leagues he applied for and didn't get? You have no clue really, neither do I - difference is I give him the benefit of the doubt until I know differently.

 

Didn't Barnes manage Jamaica (abroad) and Tranmere (lower league)...?

 

I'm not basing that on general population though am I? I've based it on the number of BME members in senior positions you've quoted and then given a % of BME qualified coaches against white qualified coaches and found the percentages are tiny.

Of those anecdotal evidence from players, this thread has only pointed out Barnes and Ince who have done terrible jobs. I don't profess to know whats happened in between and how many jobs they've applied for, but until i hear further evidence of where he's tried etc then from what i know is they've done bad jobs and i cannot blame a club for not touching damaged goods. The fact he even got the opportunity in the first place at such a large club like Celtic would suggest otherwise with respect to the discrimination

 

His Celtic tenure was the one that dmaged his reputation as a manager. Celtic was really poor under him. If that was his first job, then he didn't have any other achievement to fall back on. He might say Moyes nearly destroyed the Mancs in 10 months but still got a plum jon in Spain. But then Moyes had already got a track record as a manager of a big club and maintaining them in a good position in the premiership with a limited budget.

 

I suppose you say similar for Souness. Completely ****ed Liverpool up (but still won the FA Cup) but having had a decent time at Rangers (seven trophies in five years) he'd got enough behind him to gain employment at Galatasary (two trophies), Torino, Benfica, Blackburn (League Cup) and Newcastle.

 

He did speak well on the Suarez case. He even said all the circus around it [paraphrasing here] was 'detracting from the real issues' - and he couldn't have said a truer thing.

 

He also wheeled out the "cultural differences" club line to defend him and even said that "ignorance is sometimes an excuse" to back a man who'd lived in Europe for years.

 

How much of this do you disagree with and/or you think is his own vested interest?

 

He said a lot more than that (see Tobes post above and I'll add his comment about zero tolerance being brushed aside as well). I've read as you've given a balanced and considered argument throughout this thread about an issue that's obviously important to you. It's important to me too and I respect everything you've said bcos I believe the problem "may" exist, but I have absolutely zero sympathy or support for a man who imo sold out to preserve some misguided allegiance belittling an issue that now he feels a victim of. Why should I care about him being a victim when he didnt care that somebody else was. It doesnt matter the countless things he may have done that were good if he compromised those very values in that one moment. Should I have sympathy for Ron Atkinson who did more for black players than any other manager at a time when nobody did, but then called Desailly a n*****r? Sorry mate but I dont care about Barnes and I think he lacks credibility.

 

Which side were you whenever we play Swansea?.

 

No thanks

I'm not sure what you mean by 'sold out' or how he didn't care someone was a victim. If you mean Evra then that's contentious because I [and many others] don't believe he was a victim. As for him being a victim himself, he would dispute that all day long, as his long term stance has been that he refuses to be a victim. Him pointing out that black managers don't get the same opportunities isn't about victimhood, it's an observation based on personal experience and others experiences who've confided in him, along with numbers/stats .... from research into the situation.

He's raising awareness and asking for education and that can only be a good thing.

 

If you can't understand that a man who defended a player who was accused of racially abusing another player, and then post him being found guilty of the offence then bleated about the sentence being harsh, based solely on his club allegiance - to then try and accuse the game in general of racism that's supposedly affected his post playing career - might come across as a ****ing hypocrite to those who don't share your allegiance then go have a lie down

 

The thread has turned into Suarez v Evra? Who'd have thought that...