BARNES: MOORE FACES BAME BLAME
DARREN MOORE may have landed the managerial job at Sheffield Wednesday – but John Barnes says a fundamentally negative perception of black bosses remains a huge problem.
Moore quit League One promotion contenders Doncaster last week for Hillsborough after being tasked with saving the fallen Yorkshire giants from Championship relegation.
The 46-year-old is currently one of only six people from a BAME – black, Asian or minority ethnic – background to be a manager in the top four divisions of English football.
And Liverpool legend Barnes said: “We have had black managers in the Premier League before, but how many times are those managers given opportunities again?
“That’s the problem. Darren got a chance at West Brom but they sacked him after a few defeats, whereas white managers can lose a few games and are still supported.
“It’s about the perception they have of your ability and it’s bigger than football – it’s happening across all industries.
“I’m not saying that people don’t support you when you’re in there, because everybody at that football club wants you to be successful.
“But if you’re not successful straight away, that perception of your capability to be successful, as a black person, comes to the fore. That is when people think,
‘Is he really good enough?’.”
Barnes had short-lived spells in the managerial dugout at Celtic and Tranmere plus a stint with the Jamaica national side.
He has not ruled out managing again, and added: “If I was given an opportunity I would still like to do it because I’m a football person. But I’m not holding my breath.”
SOME Premier League bosses have only kept their jobs this season because they haven’t had to face furious fans, reckons Brian Horton.
Former Manchester City manager Horton (left) believes certain bosses are very lucky grounds haven’t been full of supporters demanding to know what’s gone wrong.
Horton, author of ‘Two Thousand Games – A Life In Football,’ said: “The fact there have been no crowds has definitely helped some managers, that’s clear.
“It’s the supporters who put pressure on the owners when things aren’t going well – and they haven’t been there. The crowds just add to the pressure. Clubs say fans can help them win games and it’s true, but they also put struggling teams and managers under more pressure.
“We’ve seen fans making up owners’ minds before. If you’re near the bottom or a big club not living up to expectations, fans have a say.”
Horton, 72, is glad he’s out of it. He said: “Management is so much harder now than it was in my day, without a shadow of a doubt.”
LYING on the pitch in the mud, face stinging from a wayward elbow, Dara O’Shea had been given a brutal wake-up call.
The Republic of Ireland defender was still a fledgling professional at West Brom when he had agreed to a loan move to non-league Hereford.
And after a couple of weeks it soon became clear that academy football was a stroll in the park compared to life in the Southern League Premier Division.
O’Shea, now 22, is in his breakthrough season at The Hawthorns, but he might not have reached the Premier League at all were it not for a couple of lessons handed down in the semi-professional game three years ago.
“It was an eye-opener,” he recalled. “Working with men and up against old, seasoned professionals in the later stages of their careers.
“It was only my second or third game and I remember the opposition manager, before kick-off, called his striker over, saying, ‘Look, he’s a young lad, get into him’.
“Five minutes later, I was defending a wide free-kick and the next thing, I got a swift elbow to the face. I couldn’t believe it. One minute, I was standing up. The next, I was on the floor.
“I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’m in with the big boys now’ and that was when I realised I had to toughen up, put my hard hat on and get stuck in – otherwise I’d be eaten alive.
“From then on I made it my mission to put in a tough tackle the first chance I got – to prove I wasn’t a pushover.”