Sol Campbell claims racism has hindered his progress.

Huskaris

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/27/sol-campbell-racism-england-manager

Sol Campbell, the former England and Arsenal defender, believes he will have to move abroad to fulfil his ambitions of becoming a coach due to racial prejudices that exist in this country, describing attitudes to black footballers here as "archaic".

Campbell, who won 73 caps for his country, two Premier League titles with Arsenal and at his prime was recognised as being among the finest central defenders in the world, is currently working towards gaining the qualifications required to become a coach or manager across Europe having retired following a 19-year playing career in May 2012. From start to finish, the process is likely to take three years and Campbell believes that upon completion he will have to leave Britain to begin his new career.

"I want to start abroad," said the 39-year-old in an exclusive interview with the Guardian. "There are no opportunities for me here, not until attitudes change anyway. Everyone has to ask themselves why there are not more black managers in this country and why the likes of [former Sheffield United striker] Brian Deane have to go abroad [to Sarpsborg 08 in Norway] to get a chance. I've spoken to other black players who want to coach and they feel the same, that attitudes here are archaic. I hope and pray the environment changes."

Campbell's assertion is backed up by the paucity of black managers currently working in England, with only four – Chris Hughton, Chris Powell, Paul Ince and Chris Kiwomya – employed among the country's 92 professional clubs. There may well be vast improvements should the Professional Footballers Association and Football League's plans to introduce an equivalent of the "Rooney Rule" – which requires NFL teams in America to interview ethnic-minority candidates for head-coach roles – go ahead. However, Campbell may be long gone by then given the anger he feels towards the English Football Association in particular.

"I gave my heart and soul for the national team but the FA were not there for me when I had problems," he said. "Even after that, I still wanted to do something with the England setup, and they said they were interested, but the interest went cold. Suddenly, Gary Neville pops up as assistant manager. It's obvious they want nice people who won't cause them any problems. I put out an olive branch and it got broken, but whatever, I'm ready to move on."

Now to me it appears to be a load of nonsense, as there are apparently 92 professional clubs with 4 black managers, with 3.5% of the UK being black, that would mean that 3.5% of 92 is 3.22, so with 4, I don't think he can necessarily claim that.

Sounds like sour grapes to me, anyway I thought I'd post it before Roy does.

ValleyGary

Sol Campbell is a twat

Friend Or Defoe

Ridiculous, I can see this getting sunk.

I can't think of too many foreign black managers.

Rizzo

I'm actually quite surprised by how low the percentage of black people in this country is but I just checked and the 2011 census does indeed say 3.3%. Given that statistic then I'd agree that Campbell doesn't really have a leg to stand on. I also wonder what percentage of the professional players are black.

Amos on the wing

Friend Or Defoe said:

Ridiculous, I can see this getting sunk.

I can't think of too many foreign black managers.

Edgar Davids-Barnet.

DRAddick

Also by saying "It's obvious they want nice people who won't cause them any problems" he's giving a reason other than racism. Unless he's saying there are no nice Black people and is therefore himself a racist.

But seriously, I don't think that using the general population as a guide fits in this case. What's the percentage of black people working within professional football? Way way higher than 3.5%. There are always many reasons for these kind of things, Racism is rarely the main reason althought I have no doubt there is an element of it. Maybe everyone hates him and don't want to work with him. Unfortunately many people find it easier to band rasicm around as an excuse for their own inadequacies.

Macronate

i can't help but read that and think... go on then, piss off abroad.

ValleyGary

''Even after that, I still wanted to do something with the England setup, and they said they were interested, but the interest went cold. Suddenly, Gary Neville pops up as assistant manager. It's obvious they want nice people who won't cause them any problems. I put out an olive branch and it got broken, but whatever, I'm ready to move on."

Sour grapes at its finest.

So Gary Neville gets a job and its immediately 'obvious' that its cos he's nice. That Gary Neville, who was often in trouble with the FA with his attitude during games against rivals.

Ive seen interviews with Campbell and he comes across as a bitter man.

Nicholas

His a twat who feels everyone owes him something, John Barnes is similar.

chazza

Poor old Sol....so hard done by.

SELR_addicks

DRAddick said:

But seriously, I don't think that using the general population as a guide fits in this case. What's the percentage of black people working within professional football? Way way higher than 3.5%.

This. Sol Campbell may be bitter and just playing the victim in this interview, but there's still an issue (European wide really) of a lack of black coaches/managers coming through the ranks.

JT

Such a hard life

Can-addick

Agreed, @SELR_addicks. Not an issue of the population as a whole, but of those interested/qualified to move into management. The reference to the "Rooney Rule" is interesting, as for my money, the NFL has more than its share of things to be ashamed of, but seems to be one of (if not the) most progressive professional league on this issue.

ValleyGary

SELR_addicks said:

DRAddick said:

But seriously, I don't think that using the general population as a guide fits in this case. What's the percentage of black people working within professional football? Way way higher than 3.5%.

This. Sol Campbell may be bitter and just playing the victim in this interview, but there's still an issue (European wide really) of a lack of black coaches/managers coming through the ranks.

I think the next generation will see a big increase in black managers in this country. The percentage of black people playing professional football has increased dramatically over the last 30/40 years and so id imagine this will be the case with managers when those black players retire and start coaching.

kentaddick

Paid millions, played for the national team countless times, screwed over the club that gave him his start in the game to go to their bitter rivals for free, yet he still plays the victim card. Classless twat.

JohnBoyUK

* enters thread *
Reads story. Story noted.
Shame the interviewer didnt ask him how his film career is going in Hollywood...
Not saying anymore as I'll get banned from CL. He makes my blood boil.
* leaves thread *

cafctom

Think all the calling him a twat is a bit OTT, but I have always thought he was a bit of a strange character with quite a bit of insecurity about him.

SELR_addicks

ValleyGary said:

SELR_addicks said:

DRAddick said:

But seriously, I don't think that using the general population as a guide fits in this case. What's the percentage of black people working within professional football? Way way higher than 3.5%.

This. Sol Campbell may be bitter and just playing the victim in this interview, but there's still an issue (European wide really) of a lack of black coaches/managers coming through the ranks.

I think the next generation will see a big increase in black managers in this country. The percentage of black people playing professional football has increased dramatically over the last 30/40 years and so id imagine this will be the case with managers when those black players retire and start coaching.

Hopefully this will be the case, and with the majority of black managers relatively young (under 50 or so), it shows there's some uptake from the group that played in the 90s/early 00s.

Mortimerician

A bit like john Barnes he is confusing his inability to find a good football management job, with racism. Someone who is more self aware might wonder if being an unlikeable prick is a factor or ask what they can do to improve and prove their skills. Not Sol, he immediately puts the fact that he didn't get the call when the spurs job came up, as racism.

MuttleyCAFC

I don't think it is right to Look at the percentage of black people in the country but more the percentage of black footballers in the era that is now producing most managers. I do not know these percentages but you would expect more black managers based on that I’m sure. I think it is difficult to lay it at the door of racism though – there are lots of potential managers without jobs, black and white. I’d look at how many clubs have employed a black manager under their current management – so MK Dons have a white manager now but have recently employed a black manager (Ince), Tranmere have recently employed a black manager (Barnes) etc… so race can't be a big factor in the way they appoint! Rather than look at how many black managers there are at a certain point - when there can only be one manager at a club – look what percentage of clubs have been happy to appoint a black manager!!!

Then you can also say – there is a bias against English managers at the top of the game – which isn’t a race issue but will also cloud the figures – much more complicated than people on both sides may wish to portray and I don’t think anybody has yet done the depth of analysis needed to work out if there is an issue or not!

SELR_addicks

The PFA says about 18% of players on their coaching courses are black or from other ethnic minorities
There are 192 Uefa Pro Licence owners in England and 14 of those are black coaches
Around 30% of players in the professional game are non-white

A few interesting statistics from the PFA.

PL54

He's a plank.

Karim_myBagheri

ValleyGary said:

Sol Campbell is a twat

Nicholas said:

His a twat who feels everyone owes him something, John Barnes is similar.

PL54 said:

He's a plank.

my sentiments exactly

cafctom

They have a ridiculous rule in American Football where at least one person of an ethnic minority HAS to be interviewed for a coaching role for every vacancy. John Barnes was advocating this on BBC radio a while back. Personally never heard such a load of tosh in the time I've been following Football.

Absurdistan

He might be an idiot but I think there is racism in football............ie the point is valid, but the messenger maybe less so.

iaitch

It shouldn't matter what colour the manager is but whether he's a good manager or not.

Say we get relegated this season Powell will get some abuse not for being black but not being very good.

LenGlover

40 years ago a black footballer was a novelty.

Over the intervening period black footballers emerged to the point where the ratio of black to white players is now not worthy of comment.

The same will happen with managers as more ex black players decide to take the coaching route.

North Lower Neil

ValleyGary said:

SELR_addicks said:

DRAddick said:

But seriously, I don't think that using the general population as a guide fits in this case. What's the percentage of black people working within professional football? Way way higher than 3.5%.

This. Sol Campbell may be bitter and just playing the victim in this interview, but there's still an issue (European wide really) of a lack of black coaches/managers coming through the ranks.

I think the next generation will see a big increase in black managers in this country. The percentage of black people playing professional football has increased dramatically over the last 30/40 years and so id imagine this will be the case with managers when those black players retire and start coaching.

I think so too.

Campbell can't get a job because he's not bothered going away, getting experience as a coach at youth level/a lower level and doing his badges, nothing to do with race.

buckshee

Kiwomya is doing such a fine job at Notts County though

soapy_jones

ValleyGary said:

Sol Campbell is a twat

I think VG you have spotted the main stumbling block to him becoming a coach straight away...

Mendonca In Asdas

If he can go abroad and get the gist of what is to be a good coach , then longer term he will be a better coach for it.
Wish more people would go and work in another country and bring what they've learned back into the game.