Was the appointment of Ryan Mason racist?

[al_pacino]

If the manager was being picked for experience and qualifications Powell might have been the better pick but he wasn't, he was picked for the good news story. I don't think you'd be picking either to still be managing the team in two years time.

 

[Stamford]

Also please stop taking Windy seriously.

 

[Nerine]

Fucking hell....

If people keep making a fucking mountain out of a molehill with this stuff, things are going to go the opposite way - positive discrimination.

We don't know why Mason was chosen over Powell.

I would suspect that it had literally fuck all to do with skin colour.

Why do people have to drag this utter bollocks up all the time?! People are people. That's all anyone needs to know. If everyone thought like that, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.


The only reason this has been brought up is simply because Chris Powell IS black. If it had have been a white person that Mason got preferred to, then there would be no issue or questioning it. People literally looking for something to be outraged by.

Fucking melts.

 

[muppetman]

If the decision is being made on optics/crowd pleasing (rather than coaching experience) then surely the victim of "structural racism" here would be Ledley King not Chris Powell who never played for us? Ledley fits both bills.

But WIndy was specific about it being Chris Powell. Made me scratch my head.

Just trying to imagine Ledley taking the sort of questions that Ryan has been fielding the last few weeks.

 

[mumfordspur]

Lots of little points.
Read that they did speak to Ledley about taking it on.
Chris looks more than happy doing what he is doing.
Watching him & Ledley discussing training on the sidelines a few weeks ago was a real feel good moment.
Windy has lost it.

 

[HodisGawd]

Unlikely but it definitely should have been Powell. It stinks more of PR bullshit from the board than racism in my opinion.

Would they not be the same thing? Is appointing a black coach "bad PR" then?

For the record, I think we'd have to know whether Powell turned down the job before deciding whether there was any racism at play here.

In a normal workplace, Powell should have been offered it first, without a doubt, as he is more qualified. Football is a bit weird though.

 

[YB123]

Im sure I read that Chris Powell couldnt have changed his role due to his contract with England aswell.

Besides, this thread should be disregarded. Absolute nonsense.

 

[thebenjamin]

He might actually have the glimmer of a point here. Mason is the golden boy who has been fast tracked beyond his competence. Powell is a highly experienced coach who was overlooked because.....? We don’t know, but I think it’s fair to assume that optics were more important than experience here, and for whatever reason the inexperienced Mason was seen as more of a crowd pleaser than the highly experienced Powell.

That’s not racism, but it might fall under unconscious bias. The gammons will never accept it though.

Or Mason played for us and is a big crowd favourite who everyone loves because of his story, and they needed some good news to get rid of the Mourinho toxicity.

 

[Stamford]

Would they not be the same thing? Is appointing a black coach "bad PR" then?

For the record, I think we'd have to know whether Powell turned down the job before deciding whether there was any racism at play here.

In a normal workplace, Powell should have been offered it first, without a doubt, as he is more qualified. Football is a bit weird though.

I didn't say that. I think Mason is good PR though.

 

[Aphex]

Do people realise Ledley isn't up to the job? He is a rabbit in headlights in front of the camera. For that reason he will never be Spurs manager and rightly so.

Chris on the other hand, speaks well but who knows if he even wanted it? It's a token 7 game run or whatever. Maybe Levy thought what Ryan went through with his injury meant he had earned it.

 

[DarwinSpur]

With the amount of genuine racism that goes on, I really don't see the need to fabricate racism to campaign about by twisting absolute bollocks like this into something it's not. Beggars belief.

I'm inclined to agree and would just gently point out that the "d'oh" rating you gave my original post feels like "shooting the messenger"?

 

[Albertbarich]

It is worth the question.

I mean why was ledley over looked? Why Mason and not Powell?

I dont think for one second levy made a conscious choice because of colour but maybe due to the lack of black managers and Mason looking like a young avb/poch he unconsciously presumed Mason would be the better fit.

 

[muppetman]

Funny how stuff like this boils so much piss.

 

[The Scarecrow]

I did share some of this sentiment when listening to him but I wondered if I was being unfair. (and perhaps structurally racist )

Maybe, but I feel Windy keeps pushing this kind of agenda. I don't think he has bad intentions, but he seems to be paying a little too much attention to skin colour.

 

[fortworthspur]

I dont know if I have an opinion but the reactions tell a story. Good post.

 

[HodisGawd]

Whether true or not, it's disturbing how many people here want to shut down the debate about this.

I guess our fanbase is no different to others'.

 

[MassadaTom]

Clearly from your post, you don't even understand what the term means. Try doing so before you declare it "bollocks".

I would gladly let you explain it to me then but i expect that it will start conversation about whole post-marksist post-structuralism vs structuralism aproch to it
i would prefer in different thread.

 

[DarwinSpur]

Whether true or not, it's disturbing how many people here want to shut down the debate about this.

Don't think there's any doubt whatsoever that "structural racism" (or whatever you want to call it) exists in the football industry. You only need to look at outcomes for black coaches to see that.

I'm not sure it applied in this scenario though. In fact I thought it was a poor application of the real issue.

But wondered if I was just being blinkered.

 

[King of Otters]

Or Mason played for us and is a big crowd favourite who everyone loves because of his story, and they needed some good news to get rid of the Mourinho toxicity.

Yep, that’s also a valid explanation. I don’t think there’s any harm in exploring things like unconscious bias in this context though. This is precisely why the Rooney Rule was introduced in the NFL and also why it made a difference in the number of black coaches represented in the league.

 

[hellava_tough]

Powell may have been offered the job, but he turned it down.

We'll never know, well, not in the short term, because these discussions are done in private.

So it's wise to assume good intentions, unless someone involved comes out and makes an accusation.

If you try to second guess every action of every person in life, you'll go crazy.