Liverpool hero John Barnes: I can't get a job because I'm black
Former Liverpool and England legend John Barnes would like to work again as a football manager - but says his chances of getting one have been harmed because of the colour of his skin.
The former Celtic, Jamaica and Tranmere Rovers manager, who last took charge of a team in 2009, tells ITV4’s John Barnes: Sports Life Stories programme that white managers are able to get another job if they are sacked - but black managers cannot simply walk into another club.
He says: “A white manager loses his job and gets another job, he loses his job, he gets another job. Very few black managers can lose their job and get another job.
“What I can judge it from is by looking at society. How many black people are there in the higher echelons of any industry? We can talk about journalism, we can talk about politics. So why should football be any different?”
John also dismisses the idea that the Celtic job, when he got it, was too much too soon. He says: ”Well if it comes now at 51, I don’t think it will be any different. It’s more to do with the perception of my ability to do the job, because there’s a certain perception of who can make a good manager.”
With just six managers in the Premier League and Football League from black and minority ethnic backgrounds compared to three at the 92 clubs when Barnes retired from playing, his former England team-mate Ian Wright agrees.
He says: “With someone of John Barnes’ ability and stature, to not have worked more in the game with something that he’s desperate to do. I don’t know what else it can be?”
The programme, which airs at 10.10pm on Tuesday, traces John’s journey from being spotted by a taxi driver as a youngster, to becoming a pioneering black player and winning league titles with Liverpool.
Wright also says that John opened doors for other black players to move to top clubs when he moved from Watford to Merseyside in 1987. He says: “If John Barnes goes and fails at somewhere like Liverpool that puts us back. I don’t know how much longer it would have taken for us to get through to that level.”
Watch John Barnes: Sports Life Stories ITV4 10.10pm Tuesday March 31