I’D NEVER LOOK AT THE COLOUR OF MY SKIN AS AN OBSTACLE How many people work in football? Not everybody can be racist.
THE black books, as he calls them, contain everything that will form Marvin Bartley’s manifesto for management.
For almost a decade now, the 33-year-old Livingston player-coach has written every lesson learned from a colourful career path that has taken him from being a window fitter in Reading, playing semi-professional football, to a Scottish Cup winner and boss-in-the-making in those large A4 notepads.
Training drills feature, of course, but it is the human elements he suspects he will have to call upon most in fulfilling his ambition of becoming a head coach, the old emotions he has only started to mould into something useful.
Bartley had only been in senior football at Bournemouth for seven months when they slid into administration in 2008, wage cuts resulting in senior pro Darren Anderton, of Spurs and England fame, offering to help younger members of staff pay bills and feed families.
There was the move into professional boxing, running a promotions company with brothers Mark and Michael, which schooled him in the ruthlessness of the hardest game and the indigestible reality of fighters laying their lives on the line being lied to and shortchanged.
Current studies on a football management course at Napier University, alongside ex-Hibs team-mates David Gray and Steven Whittaker and Hearts captain Christophe Berra, offer further food for thought on the industry of sport. And, then, there’s the racism.
Bartley was abused online by a supposed Hearts supporter in 2017, peppered with vile insults and told to die. Earlier this year, a man was arrested over alleged racial abuse after a video had appeared on social media from an Edinburgh derby.
All that is down on paper. And if the cacophony of established voices is correct, those notes on racial discrimination are going to increase tenfold in coaching, where he now assists Steve Pittman with Livingston’s reserves.
Football management is no place for a black man, goes the theory.
Spurs defender Danny Rose terms coaching badges ‘a waste of time’ because black players ‘don’t get a chance’. John Barnes, Paul Ince, Sol Campbell and Chris Powell have all had their say too.
Bartley, of course, has campaigned for players to leave the pitch when faced with d i s c r i m i n a t i o n . H o w e v e r, t h e Rooney Rule, introduced in England to ensure clubs interview BAME candidates for managerial roles, is quietly sidestepped in discussion.
Naive or not, he retains faith in his sport and its willingness to recognise the commitment that has brought him this far. No bandwagons. No blame.
‘I don’t want to disrespect those managers who have spoken out about this, but I am not going to look at it from that point of view if I do lose a job,’ admitted Bartley.
‘If, one day, I win the Premier League and get sacked that summer, we’ll look at it and think: “Hang on. What’s going on?”
‘But I’ll put a question to you and it might upset some people. When was the last time a black manager was doing well at the point he was sacked and you thought: “What the hell?”.
‘I had a discussion recently with someone who felt Chris Hughton, an absolutely fantastic manager, was unfairly treated at Brighton. Well, let’s break it down.
‘He spent a lot of money. Yes, they stayed in the Premier League, but it was because of the start they had. If the season had started halfway through, they’d have been relegated — by a long way. As a chairman, would you have kept him in a job?
‘It’s so easy to say people don’t like the colour of your skin or your attitude or whatever, but if I had that mindset, I’d be walking around an angry man, not talking to anyone.
‘When I was 18, I was released by a village team. The manager told me I wasn’t good enough. It was the lowest level of football you could be at before you were paying to play.
‘I could have told myself he was racist and the whole industry must be like this, but I didn’t. Instead, I’ve won a Scottish Cup, played at some of the biggest stadiums in England, forged a career.
‘How many people work in football? Not everybody can be racist.
‘There probably is a racist director or CEO somewhere, but there are a lot of different clubs out there and there will be one which likes my philosophy and wants to give me a job.
‘Then, it is up to me to succeed and change this perception
that black guys don’t get managerial jobs.
‘I might be naive in thinking that if I don’t get a job, it will purely be because I am not the right fit.
‘I might say in ten years’ time I was totally wrong, but I cannot go in with the mindset that I might not get a job because of the colour of my skin.
‘I have dealt with a couple of issues as a player, but those were just idiots. I am not reading that as a wider reflection of anything.
‘I’d never look at the colour of my skin as an obstacle. I won’t let it enter my thought process.’
Beside those personal observations, Bartley’s playing career also brought him under the tutelage of two of Britain’s most respected coaches in Burnley’s Sean Dyche and Eddie Howe at Bournemouth.
‘They were total opposites,’ he reflected. ‘Dyche was more a motivator than a coach and demanded standards. He had Ian Woan and Tony Loughlan, who put on the sessions.
‘I understand my limitations and can see that having people around you to do the things you can’t is important.
‘Eddie was a fantastic coach. He can be a baby-faced assassin, but he’s a great people-person and probably the ultimate manager.
‘Look at Bournemouth now. He has ex-players he played with and there is a culture. He puts a chip, if you like, into people and has them moving in the same direction.’
You can bet all that is in the black books for future reference, too. ‘It probably sounds weird, but, since the age of 24, I’ve written down everything,’ explained Bartley.
‘How administration at Bournemouth made me feel, for example. I was 22 and wasn’t on a lot of money.
‘I enjoyed putting on that boxing show, but it was cut-throat. You won’t find the things we dealt with in football. Incidents at Hibs with abuse are in there as well.
‘These books have been kept with the end goal of becoming a manager and being able to use them. I hope it will allow me to help players going through particular issues because I’ll be able to show I’ve been there.
‘Within the last 18 months or so, I have gone back through my notes and tried to answer the problems I faced. How I would deal with it now? How would I advise others based on my experiences?
‘You have to be able to see, at times, that there might be more going on with a player than just being off-form. Management has moved on.’
We have to believe society has, too, and Bartley is determined to prove it. You might say it’s his ultimate note to self.