U FEEL ANGRY.. AND HELPLESS w
Dad of Chelsea star Reece on the racist abuse hurled at his son and Man Utd daughter Lauren
BY DARREN LEWIS
TOO many parents in English football are suffering the kind of pain of Nigel James feels.
The father of Chelsea’s Reece and Manchester United’s Lauren is yet another rendered helpless in the face of the racist abuse aimed at his children.
His talented kids received online abuse within a week of each other, between the end of January and the first week of this month.
Beyond condemnation, there is nothing that their clubs can do while social-media companies continue to stick their heads in the sand.
Instead, Nigel tries to rise above it, hoping it doesn’t consume his family. Speaking to The Conversation podcast, he said: “You do want to fight back. When you hear something about your child, it hurts you. You feel anger but there is nothing you can do about that.
“That’s the real painful thing about it. The fact that, you know, you speak to your children, you give them all the support, as you’ve done for years, and yet you’re sort of in limbo. What do you do? Who’s going to help you? Who’s going to support them? What do you do? What do we do about this?”
Reece (as a child with his younger sister, above) shared a screenshot of the monkey emojis and the messages referring to his “dirty black skin” on Instagram earlier this month. Lauren, who also received emojis, labelled the taunts directed at her as boring and called on Instagram to deal with the issue.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich responded by writing to every player at the club, expressing his solidarity and promising to commit more funds to the fight against racism.
Manchester United recently issued a joint statement with neighbours Manchester City and both Merseyside clubs, Liverpool and Everton, hitting out at the lethargy of the social-media companies.
None of that helps Nigel, who is left to pick up the pieces each time his children are targeted.
“It’s the double blow of having your son receiving it and then your daughter receiving it,” he said. “You’re looking and you’re thinking to yourself: ‘What is this all about? What have they done to deserve this?
“I’m still in shock. And the only way for me to deal with it is to try to push it aside. Because you’re looking at it thinking: ‘What’s gonna happen, who’s going to deal with this?’”
The response from Facebook, which owns Instagram, has been a predictable one, from claims it is working with players, clubs and the football authorities to the old truism about racism having no place in our society.
In the meantime, the James family (left) will continue dealing with it in their own way.
“Yes, we do try and push it aside. As if it’s not happening,” Nigel added.
“That’s the way we try to deal with it as a family – my son and my kids. Because you keep talking about it and the authorities are not doing anything about it. Eventually, you don’t want it to start affecting your kids.
“That starts affecting their performances and everything else in life. So it’s something that we’ve just tried to dust off and move forward.
“I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do, but if I’m going to protect them then sometimes we have to deal with it like that.”
JONATHAN WOODGATE could go down as the unluckiest caretaker boss in football history if his Bournemouth reign ends with victory at QPR today.
England old boy Woodgate has won three and drawn one of his four games in charge, leading the Cherries to the FA Cup quarter-finals for only the second time in their history.
But Thierry Henry is set to be appointed next week.
And Woody, 41, admits he has not even been interviewed for the job and does not know if he has a long-term future at the Vitality Stadium. He said: “I have not been interviewed. You don’t know how long you are going to be here for, so you have to try and make an impression on the players.
“I am enjoying it but normally when a new manager comes in, he brings his own staff. That is the nature of the beast, that is how it is.
“I have never had that conversation with any of the board at all.
“Who knows after QPR what
WOODGATE’S MATCHES
Feb 6 Birmingham (h) won 3-2 Championship Feb 9 Burnley (a) won 2-0 FA Cup
Feb 13 Nottingham Forest (a) drawn 0-0 Championship Feb 17 Rotherham (h) won 1-0 Championship happens? Someone might get announced, they might not.”
Woodgate (below, talking to Lewis Cook) stepped in after Jason Tindall was sacked at the start of the month. He said: “We have done what was asked of us – won games, drawn one and kept three clean sheets.
“I have no idea on time frames, I really don’t. My objective is the QPR game, I am not looking at the future, I am just looking at the present.
Whoever is going to be the next manager, we just get on with it.
“The players are just concentrating on the next game exactly like I am.
“I don’t let any rumours get in the way of my thinking.”
Henry’s expected arrival will propel Bournemouth into the global spotlight and Woodgate admits he does not know how the players will react to such a superstar appointment.
He said: “I have no idea. It is a question for the players.
“At the minute they are rolling their sleeves up and battling for the football club.
“I’d respond to any manager who got the job. I remember at Leeds when Terry Venables came in, he was fantastic.
“I had five managers at Real Madrid and it does not matter if they are a superstar or not as far as I’m concerned.”
WAYNE ROONEY’S Derby revival was put to the test by Rams old boy Will Hughes in a Vicarage Road wind tunnel.
With Watford bidding to move level on points with Brentford in the Championship’s automatic promotion places, Rooney was left to rue the influence of former Rams favourite Hughes.
In gusty conditions, Derby served up a gutsy display which underlined the narrow margins between the division’s upper slopes and foothills.
After the pedestrian, stagnant football of his predecessor Phillip Cocu, five wins from their previous six games had lifted Rooney’s Rams away from the Championship quicksand.
Six points adrift of safety when England’s record goalscorer took charge, Derby look safe for now.
Although trains will run on time before the prospective takeover at Pride Park actually happens.
But they were on the back foot after two goals in two minutes – from their first shots on goal – put the Hornets in charge.
First Ismaila Sarr’s burst of pace and low cross was deflected by Andre Wisdom and Joao Pedro claimed his eighth goal of the season – although he knew little about it – from close range.
Then Hughes, against his former club, tried his luck from 20 yards and hit the jackpot after another helpful deflection off Nathan Byrne.
Derby thought they had reduced the deficit six minutes before the break when Colin Kazim-Richards beat keeper Daniel Bachmann to head home Byrne’s corner.
However, referee Tim Robinson spotted a non-existent foul in the six-yard box.
And while his players were baffled by the decision, Rooney’s restraint in the technical area was admirable
To little avail, KazimRichards picketed the officials as the teams left the pitch at half-time.
But the Rams did finally find a way past Bachmann with 13 minutes left.
Byrne’s superb cross just evaded Kazim-Richards and Hornets defender William Troost-Ekong obliged by turning it high into his own net to set up a frantic finish.