Media persecution of Raheem Sterling

[tolmie's hairdoo]

It never was the same for past british drivers, in fact their bling lifestyle was celebrated imo

Yep, James Hunt was a loveable rogue and celebrated from the rafters.

Hamilton is one of the greatest sportspeople this country has ever produced and is treated like absolute shit.

Came from absolutely nothing and the ultimate glass ceiling breaker for that particular sport.

 

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

It isn't 100% a racist issue. Sterling was crucified by the Liverpool media for leaving Klanfield. Before he left he was the best young plyer in the world, could develop under Brendan the teeth. Once it was clear he wasn't signing a new contract (different from asking to leave, merely stating he wasn't extending - same as Milner) but would see out his existing contract, the scene altered. He was a pariah, a greedy b*****d, not as good as Jordan Ibe, good riddance, better off gone,his wages published by the Liverpool club and mafia. Step forward Aldridge, Barnes (hypocritical of him this morning to come on SSN and try to defend him), Molby, Rush, Gillespie, Houghton and the multitude of others. As to Raheem's example of Tosin and Phil's buying houses, let's not forget that Rashford bought a house for his mum (and last time I looked he wasn't white) and he was celebrated for it. That confirms it is not 100% racism here.

 

[bluestevei]

now with all this, I would hope the media would start to see raz in a different light. stop having a go because he bought his mum / sister a house
even on sunday supplement they said some of this is down to the press
but what really pisses me off, no one from the club has defended him/ spoke up for him, but now it could help us against them printing shit on our club

 

[cheekybids]

It isn't 100% a racist issue. Sterling was crucified by the Liverpool media for leaving Klanfield. Before he left he was the best young plyer in the world, could develop under Brendan the teeth. Once it was clear he wasn't signing a new contract (different from asking to leave, merely stating he wasn't extending - same as Milner) but would see out his existing contract, the scene altered. He was a pariah, a greedy b*****d, not as good as Jordan Ibe, good riddance, better off gone,his wages published by the Liverpool club and mafia. Step forward Aldridge, Barnes (hypocritical of him this morning to come on SSN and try to defend him), Molby, Rush, Gillespie, Houghton and the multitude of others. As to Raheem's example of Tosin and Phil's buying houses, let's not forget that Rashford bought a house for his mum (and last time I looked he wasn't white) and he was celebrated for it. That confirms it is not 100% racism here.

The racist part is about knowing your place.

How dare a young black lad want to leave, he should be grateful, then you see the bling, attitude, insert stereo type.

As has been mentioned adjectives are very useful, doesn’t change the story but sets the tone.

The media will throw the Chelsea fan under the bus whilst protecting colleagues, headline writers & radio pundits.

Years ago Ron Atkinson was crucified when he was heard on a stream calling Desailly a lazy Fcking n#####. He didn’t just call him that though he said that’s what we in the business call.......

He lost his job not for saying it but being heard saying it. The strange thing is nobody had been a bigger advocate for black players in the game but he had that opinion. It means he recognises talent yet percieves his flaws are down to race which matches the adjectives that the journalists set.

 

[hammocity]

Yep, James Hunt was a loveable rogue and celebrated from the rafters.

Hamilton is one of the greatest sportspeople this country has ever produced and is treated like absolute shit.

Came from absolutely nothing and the ultimate glass ceiling breaker for that particular sport.

I think Hamilton gets loads of positive attention from the Motor Racing media but you will know better. it’s way above any praise Raz gets outside of City apart from a handful of journalists in the football media. Hamilton may get the odd vitriolic condemnation from the non Motor Racing media but the Motor Racing Journos tend to tow the line, if they didn’t they would get no access to Hamilton’s team and that would be a disaster, the Sports Editors wouldn’t put up with that, would they?

 

[oldtimerdiscopants]

It isn't 100% a racist issue. Sterling was crucified by the Liverpool media for leaving Klanfield. Before he left he was the best young plyer in the world, could develop under Brendan the teeth. Once it was clear he wasn't signing a new contract (different from asking to leave, merely stating he wasn't extending - same as Milner) but would see out his existing contract, the scene altered. He was a pariah, a greedy b*****d, not as good as Jordan Ibe, good riddance, better off gone,his wages published by the Liverpool club and mafia. Step forward Aldridge, Barnes (hypocritical of him this morning to come on SSN and try to defend him), Molby, Rush, Gillespie, Houghton and the multitude of others. As to Raheem's example of Tosin and Phil's buying houses, let's not forget that Rashford bought a house for his mum (and last time I looked he wasn't white) and he was celebrated for it. That confirms it is not 100% racism here.

John Barnes told the world that Raz wouldn't make it at City.
Collymore went even further when he said..

He added: "I don't think that £50million is going to be helped massively with shirt sales and merchandise because Sterling has got a toxic reputation right now."

https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/69/...more-questions-city-outlay-for-toxic-sterling

Now the pair of them are complaining that the press are racist even though both of those (Ex Liverpool) players took the coin from the press to malign Sterling when he moved from Klanfield.

 

[domalino]

John Barnes told the world that Raz wouldn't make it at City.
Collymore went even further when he said..



Now the pair of them are complaining that the press are racist even though both of those (Ex Liverpool) players took the coin from the press to malign Sterling when he moved from Klanfield.

To be fair to Barnes, saying he didn't think Sterling would make it is a footballing opinion and if he believed it he's got the right to say it when asked.

Collymore however, was one of the biggest panderers to the "money grabbing upstart" narrative which even if he was unaware of it, feeds into that greedy, uppity black man racist stereotype.

 

[oldtimerdiscopants]

To be fair to Barnes, saying he didn't think Sterling would make it is a footballing opinion and if he believed it he's got the right to say it when asked.

Collymore however, was one of the biggest panderers to the "money grabbing upstart" narrative which even if he was unaware of it, feeds into that greedy, uppity black man racist stereotype.

The point is though that his criticism of Sterling was unfounded, Sterling moved to a more successful club and Barnes was part of the background noise laying the foundation for the abuse that was to be unleashed on Raz.

 

[domalino]

I would argue Lewis Hamilton also gets it very bad.

As a journo, I have seen how he has in recent years been pigeon-holed as a braggart, blingy jewellery monster with controversial tattoos, a tax dodger (even though he spends the majority of his life driving abroad.

Has a bling jet, messing about with various supermodels and is arrogant because he is spending his hard-earned fortune investing in his love of rap music and fashion.

Sound familiar?

That's interesting because he seems pretty universally liked from my point of view, although admittedly I don't read the Sun or Mail etc. and don't know many who do. I definitely remember some of it when he was younger, but post-Mercedes title, winning Sports Personality of the Year etc. I think his lifestyle is embraced. He certainly gets embraced by a lot of major brands who obviously don't think he has a bad reputation.

I'd sort of considered him as someone who got put through the Sterling treatment and made it out the other side.

 

[domalino]

The point is though that his criticism of Sterling was unfounded, Sterling moved to a more successful club and Barnes was part of the background noise laying the foundation for the abuse that was to be unleashed on Raz.

Saying a player who moved clubs won't make it isn't an unfounded criticism if it's based on footballing reasons though, and Barnes may well have had them. After all his last season with Liverpool was not outstanding and it took Pep's arrival and 18 months of incredibly hard work by player and coach to get Sterling to the POTY candidate he is now.

I think it's entirely possible that if we didn't get Guardiola in 2016, Sterling wouldn't have made it here. Look where he was after Euro 2016.

So that's why I can accept people saying things like he wouldn't make it, he's not worth the fee etc - especially Liverpool fans who are going to have red tinted glasses on. That's normal run of the mill footballing opinion that happens to players of all backgrounds.


It's when things go beyond football that it's unacceptable and feeds into the persecution in the media - anyone who uses words like greedy, mercenary etc to describe a player moving to a better club, or even goes into stereotypes like calling him another Aaron Lennon/Theo Walcott/ Andros Townsend.