Pitch Black (24 page)

In this run-of-the-mill confrontation, many young black males would have considered their experience a lucky escape and would most likely have tried to put the matter behind them. Instead, angered and humiliated at being marched out of a bookshop and having his friend handcuffed in a busy street in broad daylight, Anichebe went public and informed the press of the incident. He demanded an apology and wondered out loud if their treatment at the hands of Cheshire Police had been racially motivated. The story was picked up by a number of media outlets.

A few days later, the Assistant Chief Constable of Cheshire Police made a personal visit to Anichebe’s home in Knutsford to apologise for the behaviour of the officers. He explained that by looking in a jeweller’s shop window they had been acting suspiciously; furthermore, they had gone to a cash machine, spoken to a woman (whom Anichebe had directed to an alternative cash machine) and looked up and down the street, and so had further aroused suspicion. The officer was keen to make Anichebe understand that race had not been a factor in his and Peltier’s treatment.

Home Office research published in March 2006 found that black people were six times more likely to be stopped and searched in the street than white people, that the high levels of stop and search could not be explained by the greater police presence within black communities, and that black people are over-represented at every level of the criminal justice system, from being three times more likely to be arrested through to making up 24 per cent of the prison population, despite accounting for less than 3 per cent of the overall UK population. The report also found that Asians were twice as likely to be stopped and searched as whites.

Stephen Lawrence’s murder was supposed to be a
game-changer. The authorities had expressed the view that something positive would come out as a result of his murder and the associated issues around Lord Macpherson’s report. There was widespread agreement that Stephen Lawrence’s murder would not be in vain – but, as the treatment of Anichebe and Peltier starkly illustrated, nothing had changed in terms of black communities’ relationship with the police. The use of stop and search was still widespread – seemingly as an instrument of harassment and coercion, given that the Home Office agree it has little impact as a method of crime prevention and detection. Indeed, a Home Office report of 2002 estimated that searches reduced the incidence of ‘disruptable crimes’ by just 0.2 per cent. The repeal of the ‘Sus’ law had ultimately made little difference in preventing the abuse of stop-and-search powers, and the issue continued to shape the relationship between the police and young black males.

The status of Anichebe and Peltier as footballers was not able to protect them from heavy-handed, aggressive and discriminatory policing. Their detention, albeit brief, would likely have had a different outcome had they not had such a high profile and had they not had access to press contacts and high-quality legal representation. The two also received a personal apology from a high-ranking officer, which the vast majority of black males, with no such access to the trappings of Premier League stardom, would have been very unlikely to receive.

THERE IS A
point in a veteran footballer’s career when their understanding, their ability to read the game, their powers of anticipation, their organisational skills, their ability to cope with pressure and their knowledge of how to play their position is at a level higher than any other time in their career. The point at which they know exactly how many minutes of a game have gone without the need to check the clock or know exactly what to say when the team is 3–0 up or 3–0 down. This is the stage when, mentally, their game is at a premium, but the body can’t do what the mind wants it to. Inevitably, a player goes through a process of denial, but soon it takes its toll on their performance. Those players whose game relied on blistering pace experience the decline most acutely, but some manage this decline better than others. Some are able to work out what their body will allow them to do and adjust accordingly. If they have clubs or managers who value their experience, they may be able to reinvent themselves. As his pace dulled and he could no
longer cope with a succession of young flying wide-men, Viv Anderson successfully reinvented himself as a centre-back, where his ability to read the game, his positional sense and his organisational skills extended his career in the top flight and won him honours with Sheffield Wednesday.

Every player thinks about going into management, if only because they are constantly asked about how much longer they can play and what their plans are once their playing days are over. Towards the end of his playing career, Iffy Onuora had a dressing room conversation with three or four teammates about the prospect of taking the UEFA B Licence, the first step on the ladder for a professional footballer to become a fully qualified coach. Agreeing that it would be a great way to accumulate their qualifications, and discussing how they could provide each other with mutual support to achieve it, they decided that at the end of the season they would all adjourn to some FA-approved venue to acquire their coaching badges and take their first tentative steps towards a career in coaching. When the end of the season came and Onuora reminded his colleagues of the agreement they’d made so enthusiastically, all of them made their excuses, citing family, time and other commitments for their inability to attend the course. With his enthusiasm undimmed, Onuora decided to go it alone.

Onuora had first taken basic-level coaching qualifications in his late teens and early twenties and had coached young footballers in and around West Yorkshire during his days as a student at Bradford University. He’d had an opportunity to work with Leeds United and had observed then Leeds manager Billy Bremner’s first-team coaching sessions. Always something of a student of the game, his experience at university instilled a liking for coaching. As he became one
of the senior professionals at his various clubs, he became a stronger voice in dressing room and started thinking about coaching. He’d played under a number of good managers. His first manager, Eoin Hand, had managed the Republic of Ireland. Tony Pulis went on to manage in the Premier League for different clubs. Neil Warnock had forged a successful career as an expert in getting teams promoted to the top flight, if not always able to keep them there. Peter Taylor had managed the England under-21 side and was later to become caretaker manager of the full England side. Some were great coaches, preparing lively and engaging sessions that were brilliant at developing technique, but struggled to manage people and individuals. Some had great knowledge of the game and very good tactical awareness but weren’t the best at designing high-quality coaching sessions. Some were great motivators; others were nice but not always strong enough personalities to maintain discipline. Others were all too willing to blame the players for poor performances and sought to deflect attention from their own deficiencies. Some managers were egotists, others disciplinarians; some were untrustworthy, others were spiky characters; and some just weren’t very nice people.

As he played under a succession of managers, Onuora carefully observed the way in which they operated, taking ideas about how things should and should not be done, gaining tactical insights and training tips, handling players and fellow coaches, delegating skills, handling pressure and getting to grips with all the other challenges of football management in preparation for becoming a coach. At the age of thirty-five, while playing at Sheffield United, Onuora snapped his Achilles tendon and, although he’d done well to come back to play later that season, and played a further
season, the physical demands of playing as a central striker – the need to jump, spring and challenge for the ball – meant that he was never quite the same. The constant toll on his body, and the succession of loans, transfers and general instability of a veteran player, meant that football had become too much like a job, and he decided to retire.

While playing, he had acquired a full set of coaching badges, including the UEFA Pro Licence, the qualification required to coach in the top flight across all of Europe’s top divisions and at international level, and he had also acquired an Applied Certificate of Football Management from Warwick University, where he was the only current player, alongside a number of established league managers, assistant managers and coaches, to complete the course.

Football is one of the few multi-million-pound businesses where coaching jobs are almost exclusively determined by who you know. Former Arsenal and England player Paul Merson had taken over as manager of First Division Walsall. His assistant at Walsall was Simon Osborn, who’d played with Onuora at Gillingham and had bonded with him over their shared experience of fragile Achilles tendons. Merson’s knowledge of the game was good, but neither he nor Osborn had any coaching badges and they wanted someone who was qualified. Osborn recommended Onuora to Merson and, after meeting with him, Merson offered Onuora the job of first-team coach at the start of the 2005/06 season.

The role was something of a baptism of fire as he crossed the line from player to coach. Because he’d only just stopped playing, he hadn’t the experience of organising and delivering coaching sessions on a daily basis. He had been able to take the odd session here and there, but the responsibility proved something of a culture shock. Slowly, however, he got used to
the challenge of the role, but the team weren’t playing well. Losing games, they were sliding down the table; Merson had spent heavily and the fans had lost patience. Changes had to be made, and after only three or four months in the role, it was a case of last in first out, so Onuora was sacrificed for a more experienced coach. Eventually, Merson was sacked in February 2006, with the team in the relegation zone.

Before Onuora had had an opportunity to fully reflect upon his first taste of coaching, barely a week after his sacking by Walsall, a former manager, Andy King, offered him the job as head of youth development at his old club Swindon Town, who were also in the First Division. The job of an academy head is fundamentally an administrative position rather than overseeing the coaching of young players. The role includes attending regular meetings with every age-group coach, arranging trials for young players, liaising with scouts, speaking with other academy coaches, dealing with complaints from parents that their son isn’t playing often enough or making sufficient progress, and the often heartbreaking job of releasing young players who aren’t good enough to make the grade. He was, on occasions, able to put on a tracksuit and take the odd session with the under-18s, but it was a rare luxury when he was able to put his coaching credentials to good use.

However, Swindon Town were in crisis. They were in severe financial difficulties and were soon placed into administration. Results were poor, winter hadn’t yet got into its stride and they were already embroiled in a relegation battle. A sizeable number of fans were calling for the manager to be sacked and opposition teams, sensing a fire sale, were eyeing up the team’s best talent to try to get it on the cheap. The embattled manager had received some highly
unsavoury personal criticism and, after losing their fifth game on the spin, he left the club.

Given the financial state of the club, the obvious replacement was player-coach Alan Reeves, but the veteran centre-back had broken his leg. Onuora was already helping out with first-team coaching duties when Swindon and Andy King parted company. The day after King’s departure, Onuora received a phone call from a Swindon board member and was offered the job as caretaker until further notice, making Onuora one of only a handful of black managers at the time.

Two months into the job, the freefall that had befallen the club’s league fortunes had been arrested, but results were still poor. At this point, the club was offered a much needed cash injection of £120,000 to participate in a TV documentary. The documentary would see a young, inexperienced football manager being mentored by an older guru-type, who would impart his knowledge and wisdom for the benefit of the fledgling manager. The management guru would be Ron Atkinson, barely twelve months after leaving his job as a TV pundit in disgrace.

It is difficult not to view the programme as a highly cynical manoeuvre on the part of Sky TV to assist in the resurrection of the disgraced Atkinson’s career and repair accusations that he was racially prejudiced by placing him in the role of trouble-shooter in support of a black manager. Onuora was given the opportunity to reject Sky and Atkinson’s overtures by the club, but the state of the club’s finances meant that he had far greater responsibilities than his own personal feelings on the matter. In the run-up to Christmas, there were rumours around the club that many of the staff wouldn’t be paid. While the players’ wages would have been prioritised, there was an army of loyal personnel who were also fans
and were helping to keep the club afloat. Ground staff, catering, retail, admin and other staff all had bills to pay, families to feed and other responsibilities, so, in spite of reservations about assisting in Atkinson’s rehabilitation, Onuora agreed. Filming was to last from January till the end of the season.

He insisted on some conditions. He refused to wear a microphone on match days and refused to allow the TV cameras to film inside the dressing room. However, he was also unsure about Atkinson and his motives. Atkinson’s role as mentor and trouble-shooter involved little more than trying to arrange loan signings from contacts in the game and he spent two weeks of the four the film crew eventually stayed at the club on holiday. Thrown together for the purposes of a TV documentary, rather than the day-to-day needs of a manager struggling to turn around the fortunes of a team languishing in the relegation zone, Onuora and Atkinson had radically different ideas as to how Atkinson should carry out his role. This might actually have made for good TV viewing but Onuora’s refusal to wear a microphone and the film crew’s lack of access to the dressing room rendered the project unworkable. It ended after barely a month.

Barry Fry, now the owner at Peterborough United, was keen to bring some publicity to his club, so Sky and Atkinson were invited to film the programme at Peterborough’s London Road ground. Given the access they were denied at Swindon, Sky and Atkinson’s presence destabilised the club. With the players unsure as to who was in charge, and undermined by Atkinson’s presence and by the lack of support from the owner, Peterborough’s manager Steve Bleasdale famously resigned an hour before a vital promotion clash with Macclesfield. The club, who’d been well placed for a push for the play-offs when the Sky cameras turned up,
saw their promotion chances flounder under the weight of the pressure.

In most circumstances, a new manager will take over a side that is struggling. In Onuora’s case, he didn’t have a budget to acquire new players and was reliant on loan signings. Although they were still deeply in the relegation mire, Swindon had rallied to give themselves hope that they might yet avoid the drop. The team had been struggling to score goals and they lost their best player and main goal scorer when the board accepted an offer for the services of New Zealand international Rory Fallon. When the transfer window loomed and they had the chance to bring in some loan signings, the defence, which was made up of young and inexperienced players, had steadied somewhat and were performing well. Given a limited budget, Onuora decided to ensure that any loan signings he would bring in would be strikers, in order to replace Fallon and add to his overall strike force.

As the season progressed and the games increased in importance, the defensive frailties the side had displayed earlier in the season returned and in the end this was the key factor that ended the club’s difficult struggle to avoid relegation. With hindsight, Onuora would have tried to sign a decent, experienced centre-back with good organisational skills to help the youngsters solidify the defence. In this he’d learned a valuable lesson, but it had come too late. What Onuora had needed was a mentor; what Atkinson had offered was showbiz. Their relationship was doomed from the start.

That experience, however, would have stood him in good stead in his bid to get the side immediately promoted to Division One. Instead, new owners came in and offered the job to Dennis Wise, the former teammate of John Fashanu
at Wimbledon, and provided him with one of the biggest transfer budgets in the division.

One of the arguments against the implementation of any scheme that will specifically support the development of black coaches is the notion that football is a meritocracy and therefore any coaching or managerial appointments should be based on merit. However, managerial appointments are very rarely made in this way. Only in exceptional circumstances do clubs make a reasoned decision as to the type of manager they want and then carefully consider a list of likely candidates, assess their relative strengths and weaknesses, invite a number of candidates for interview and select the most favourable candidate after careful consideration. It is hard to imagine any other multi-million-pound company appointing a key member of staff in the way in which clubs choose to make appointments. Chairmen and chief executives identify future candidates for managers at a series of small exclusive network opportunities and events. A capacity for golf can assist in gaining access to a chairman’s inner circle and wider network, which helps keep a potential candidate on a decision-maker’s radar when a job becomes available.