Daily Star

Klopp’s clear to home in

Sterling slams the anti-black bias

- ■ by DARREN LEWIS ■ by DAVID MADDOCK

RAHEEM STERLING has demanded to know why white ex-pros get better managerial jobs than their black counterpar­ts.

Manchester City’s England star has also held the game to task after its claim that Black Lives Matter by asking why there is still no black presence at the top of the game.

In a frank interview on BBC’S Newsnight, he said: “I always refer back to football, the coaching staff that you see around clubs.

“I’ll give a perfect one. There’s Steven Gerrard, your Frank Lampards, you have your Sol Campbells and your Ashley Coles.

“All had great careers, all played for England. At the same time, they’ve all respectful­ly done their coaching badges to coach at the highest

WILDER

FURY

LIVERPOOL have been cleared to win the title on Merseyside after the mayor and local police said they will not push for games to be played at neutral venues.

Jurgen Klopp’s men could win their first league title in 30 years in the Merseyside derby against Everton on June 21 – but there were fears that game could be played in Manchester.

Confirmati­on that matches on Merseyside will be given the go-ahead is expected to be given tomorrow, however, when the city council’s safety committee meet to discuss plans for football to resume at both Liverpool’s and Everton’s grounds.

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson said: “I would

do my best to support. and know that this Even though it’s not in does not have to my country I think this happen again. touches everyone. “I see a lot of videos “We see the story

■ and I don’t like to sceaeptioe­vnersyawnh­ere. If you people hurt. You cahnenis acdan give support feel the pain. tationsequ­oarmhelp or do

“I’m so sorrydaonl­ednsimo iurseometh­ing, I think disappoint­ed fiourscipi­s noenvserqy­ubaotd,y just George and focrohnis eniamwzazn­ritts to help. family. I know this “You can only could happen to a lot know the pain of people, it could when this happens happen to my father or to you, but you can my brother. understand and it’s

“That’s why I try to important.” (left) level and the two that haven’t been given the right opportunit­ies are the two black former players.”

There are only six black managers out of the 91 in English football’s top four divisions. There are still no black referees.

A string of clubs have been criticised for posting black squares as part of a social media protest last week and for issuing messages of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement when the English game remains divided by institutio­nal bias.

Sterling, a man capped 56 times by England, has become the latest player to insist that change needs to come at the top if the needs of black players are to be properly addressed in the game.

He added: “There’s something like 500 players in the Premier League and a third of them are black and we have no representa­tion of us in the hierarchy, no representa­tion of us in the coaching staff.

“There’s not a lot of faces that we can relate to and have conversati­ons with. And I do think, with these protests that are going on, it’s all well and good just talking.

“But it’s time that we need to have conversati­ons to be able to spark debates – and not just debates, because we’ve done a lot of talking, but to actually start implementi­ng change.” has been held up amid protests from TV broadcaste­rs and world sporting organisati­ons, who accused the Saudis of a three-year state-sponsored global theft of sports events.

Culture, Media and Sport Secretary of State Oliver Dowden last month vowed not to interfere in the takeover process.

Yesterday his minister Nigel Huddleston said reports of intellectu­al property rights infringeme­nts would be taken up ‘‘with the relevant authoritie­s”.

The Saudi state wants Newcastle as a trophy asset but that is under threat because they are mired in disputes with sporting bodies across the world including UEFA, FIFA and even Wimbledon.

 ??  ?? COLOUR BLIND: Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have landed top jobs while Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole have not
COLOUR BLIND: Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have landed top jobs while Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole have not
 ??  ?? ■
HAMMER IT HOME: DC United made the message clear on their pitch in Washington while NFL star Colin Kaepernick first made his protests in 2016
STANDING TOGETHER: Southgate comforts Rashford in Bulgaria
■ HAMMER IT HOME: DC United made the message clear on their pitch in Washington while NFL star Colin Kaepernick first made his protests in 2016 STANDING TOGETHER: Southgate comforts Rashford in Bulgaria

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