Exclusive: Latapy on his aim to buck the trend in Scotland
managers across the UK. But you can count on the fingers of one hand how many of them are black. One hand.’
The statistics are damning. Of the 230 clubs that make up the seven tiers of English football below Premier League level, only 14 — or 6.5 per cent of the total — have black managers. In Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, there are none.
Asked what this says about British football i n 2015 — or his own prospects of becoming a manager — Latapy opts to drink from a glass half full.
‘It’s like everything else. Things change. I see a process of change now.
‘You see Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink doing a good job at Burton. Chris Ramsay suffered a relegation at Queens Park Rangers, but they gave him the responsibility to take the team forward.
‘We’ve seen others like Chris Powell, Chris Hughton and Paul Ince. So it is changing. In England, at least.
‘And I would like to be part of that process of change up here in Scotland.’
The only black man to have managed in Scotland’s top flight, Barnes’ Celtic experience ended desperately badly. Since then, the former Liverpool star has managed Tranmere Rovers in 2009 after a spell with the Jamaica national team. But last year he complained bitterly that black managers rarely enjoy the second chances granted to their white counterparts.
‘I don’t remember too much about what happened at Celtic f or Barnes,’ says Latapy. ‘You never know if a first job is right for you, that’s the problem.
‘You can’t pick and choose. If Celtic comes along and offers you the chance, that’s the kind of job you can’t say no to. But you need the opportunity to give it a go.’
A former Rangers player, Latapy harbours no expectations of a call from Parkhead any time soon. He did talk to Alloa chairman Mike Mulraney, but decided to stay at Inverness.
‘I trust Scottish football to give me a fair chance at management. I believe eventually it will happen.
‘One of the issues in the past was that a lot of the black players who played the game never took coaching badges. They just didn’t believe they would get the opportunity.
‘ But there are a lot of black ex- players now as qualified as anyone else. I am one of them.
‘It’s only a matter of time before
I hope to be part of the process of change here in Scotland
Jobs should not be allocated based on your skin colour
someone comes on the scene and makes a statement.
‘Listen, I don’t know if I think I’ll be the f i rst successful black manager in Scotland. I just want an opportunity to show what I can do.
‘I think positive all the time. Why can’t it be me?
‘Whatever race or nationality you are, I don’t believe jobs should be allocated based on the colour of your skin.’
Or, he hopes, on past reputations. One of the great mavericks of the Scottish scene, a diminutive conjurer who also played for Falkirk and Dundee United, he blew the chance to play for Hibs in the 2001 Scottish Cup Final when he was caught behind the wheel of a car in Edinburgh intoxicated.
Dwight Yorke, his best friend, countryman and a renowned Manchester United striker in his day, was by his side.
‘I always enjoyed my life,’ Latapy says now with rueful understatement. ‘I enjoyed a night out. I still do. But your wants and your needs change as you get a bit older.
‘Dwight is still my friend but he’s a bit older now as well.’
Where Yorke was once more likely to hook Latapy up with female admirers, he introduced him eight years ago to a more enduring and passionate relationship. With golf.
‘Dwight and I prefer a glass of wine and a nice meal now and arrange a round of golf instead of hitting the town,’ he claims. ‘It’s normal for us to be up at 7am for 18 holes.’
At Inverness, Latapy would take to the first tee at 7am for a round of golf before training. His handicap was pared down to six and this week he returned to Portugal to play in warmer climes.
‘ It’s too l ate f or me to play professionally,’ he admits, with some regret. ‘ But I entered the Inverness Amateur Open recently and made the cut.
‘Golf is a game for gentlemen. You have to be honest and trust others. It teaches you about discipline, decision-making and life.’
He has three children and a home in Portugal — where he won trophies with Sporting Lisbon and Boavista — but his preference is to find a stable environment in England or Scotland.
Latapy was his own man once. Assistant coach to Colombian Francisco Maturana, he took the Trinidad and Tobago reins in the middle of a World Cup qualifying campaign.
‘I basically worked for two years without getting paid,’ he recalls with a shake of the head. ‘ There comes a time when you have to say enough. The more I pressured them for my money, the more excuses they made.’
The funding for the Trinidadian association came from the government. The cash dried up when Warner, a politician, businessman and football fixer, aligned himself with the opposition.
‘The official name for Warner’s post at the time was “special advisor”,’ Lapaty laughs. ‘A quick synopsis of how it worked was this. He made all the decisions and other people signed the contracts.
‘I knew exactly what I was getting into. But how many people in my situation would say no to Warner?
‘I’m not going to walk away from a chance of my first job — especially if it’s managing my national team.
‘But the main benefactors of the national team were the Trinidadian government. And Warner decided to go into politics and stood for a rival party. I was caught in the middle.’
Capped more than 100 times, Latapy has countless Warner anecdotes, but prefers to let sleeping dogs lie. He yearns to return to Trinidad one day to, in his words, ‘clean up the game’. But his first love now is Scotland and its iconic, sweeping fairways.
‘I have been here for a long time now, around 18 years all in,’ he says. ‘I know the Scottish game, the Scottish people.
‘The reality is that, if I want to make my mark as coach, it will have to happen in Europe.
‘I was fortunate enough to have an interview with the chairman of Alloa and felt that went well.
‘I thought the job was there for me. But I just felt it wasn’t the right time to leave Inverness. It’s a different situation six months later.
‘Maybe now I’d take an opportunity like that if it came. But first someone has to give me the chance.’