John Barnes: My sacking at Celtic shows black managers aren’t fairly treated

Former Liverpool winger John Barnes has told William Hill’s new podcast, Up Front with Simon Jordan, that black managers aren’t given the same opportunities afforded to white managers, attributing his dismissal as Celtic boss after just eight months to a lack of faith in black leaders.

Speaking on William Hill’s Up Front with Simon Jordan, a brand-new podcast hosted by the former Crystal Palace owner who speaks to sports stars and celebrities and challenges their opinions whilst scrutinising their careers, Barnes said: “What would you say if I told you that I had a better win percentage than Steven Gerrard at Rangers? So, why wasn’t I given longer [at Celtic]?

“Apparently my 65 percent [win ratio at Celtic] is not great, but Steven Gerrard’s 64 [win ratio at Rangers] is great and that’s why he got the Aston Villa job. Regardless of experience and whether he should or shouldn’t have got the job, it’s amazing people say that’s not bad.

“I love Frank [Lampard] but do you really think with Frank Lampard’s record, that if he was black, he would have been given the same opportunities?”

You’d never get a black Simon Jordan

Jordan was keen to delve deeper into Barnes’ views on how race influences decision making in football and the former England winger didn’t hold back in his views.

“Black people have to have humility,” he said. “I don’t think there could be a black Simon Jordan because you’re too opinionated – if you were black, you would get slaughtered more than you get slaughtered now. Society would not except a black Simon Jordan.

“You tell me that if [Barack] Obama had the character of [Donald] Trump he would have survived? White men are given longer and therefore leeway to be arrogant and be whatever they want. They are go-getters and if you’re black or female, you can’t be that way.

“In football terms, chairman don’t sack managers, fans sack managers. Why are fans quicker to lose faith in black managers than white managers? It’s because of the perception of a black person’s ability to lead.”

Wingers are a different breed to when I played

Barnes also discussed how his position as a winger has changed compared to when he was playing and he used Bukayo Saka as a prime example of how things have changed.

“If Saka played when I played, he would have played on the left,” Barnes said. “This is how football has changed; [Mohamed] Salah, Saka, if you are left footed you play on the right, so they are not wingers. Wingers are now completely different, they are inverted wingers.

“If I was playing now I would score more goals, but I wouldn’t create as many because we don’t have centre forwards who want me to cross the ball for them.

“So, in fact, in many respects, the likes of [Robert] Lewandowski, [Erling] Haaland and Harry Kane are going to be the last great centre forwards because you are going to have wide players scoring all the goals.

You can watch the full episode here: