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Ex-Norwich sporting director apologises for ‘disgraceful’ comments about Black footballers

Ex-Norwich City sporting director Stuart Webber apologises for the ‘disgraceful’ comments he made about Black footballers.

He has expressed regret for his remarks made during an interview, in which he implied that numerous Black footballers could have ended up in jail if they hadn’t achieved success in their football careers.

During the conversation, Webber mentioned five players, such as Raheem Sterling from Chelsea and Jonny Rowe from Norwich, as examples of individuals who might have got in trouble if they hadn’t pursued professional football.

These comments were made in the context of his dedication to supporting young individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In the interview with The Pink Un, Webber said: “We want to help the guys who really need it, not the ones who are maybe privileged. I saw that with our young footballers. Jonny Rowe wouldn’t mind me saying it but him, Abu Kamara, Max (Aarons), Jamal (Lewis), Raheem (Sterling) back in the day at Liverpool, where they come from it had to work out for them in football, because the alternative is potentially jail or something else.

“If we can help these young people to help themselves then hopefully they can inspire another generation. The vision is can we help Georgia, a tennis player, who in five years can return that favour for the next Georgia?

“It feels like as a country we are in a crisis and the only way out is to create opportunities for each other. We have to try and make it a better place. I worry when my son is 16 or 17 what type of a society he is coming into.

“We can only affect our little corner and do a little bit to help but if that helps 10 people over the next five years then that is 10 people more than before. We are not going to change the world.

“We’re just super grateful for the people who support it so far and continue to do so, whether that is financially, whether that’s promoting it, whatever it is, you know, we would never ask for anything.”

His comments drew a furious reaction from the players’ families, with Aarons’ mother Amber accusing Webber of “casual racism and blatant disrespect”.

Troy Townsend of Kick It Out also branded Webber’s remarks an “absolute disgrace” and described them as being “racially profiling”.

Webber has now contacted the players and their families to apologise.

Lewis, Aarons, Kamara and Rowe rose through the ranks throughout Webber’s six years with Norwich, with Lewis and Aarons eventually going to Newcastle and Bournemouth.

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He previously came under fire for describing the quality of the women’s game as “really poor”.

In an interview he had with The Athletic, Webber said women’s football was “of zero interest to me”.

“It’s like taking a Sunday League team and trying to make them a Premier League team,” he said to The Athletic’s journalist Michael Bailey.

He at first praised Norwich City Women’s 5-3 success last month against Ashford Town in front of 7,500 supporters at Carrow Road, saying it “brought a completely new fanbase to the stadium”.

But he added: “Just because they’ve got our badge, you can’t compare.

“That [Ashford Town] game, we can say it was exciting but if we want to talk about quality, it was really poor. That’s not being unfair, it’s just factually correct.”

He said it was the first women’s game he had gone to “because it’s not an interest to me. I don’t mind admitting that”.

“Women’s football, I do not watch it,” he added.

“It’s of zero interest to me in terms of on the telly because I watch enough men’s football and if I’m not watching that, I want to watch other sports. It’s a choice.”

Mr Bailey told the BBC that there was “no definition in [Webber’s] role of just being the men’s sporting director”.

“I struggle with someone representing a football club to be quite so opinionated on what is effectively one of the teams he is responsible for,” he said.

“Not everyone has to like women’s football – or any sport – but I think there is a respect that the sport deserves generally in terms of what it is and who it can appeal to.”

Sarah Greaves, of the Canaries Trust supporters’ organisation, said: “We’re all allowed to like and dislike different things in this world.

“What wasn’t fair was the way he implied that the team just weren’t any good. I felt for that team.

“They’ve worked incredibly hard this season; the improvement has been immense.”

SEE MORE: Sporting director Stuart Webber calls out personal abuse from fans as he leaves Norwich

Twitter users reacted as the ex-Norwich sporting director apologises for ‘disgraceful’ comments about Black footballers…

@femster82: How long before he gets another job in a top position in football.

@emmasell: It’s an absolute disgrace that someone so closely linked with our club holds such [hopefully un] conscious biases. The club should distance itself from this asap. #notmyclub #ncfc

@jemccudden: Omg thank goodness we never hired this guy, as was rumoured!!! His past comments about women’s football were pretty pathetic too. #lufc

@JohnGordonSaker: Stuart Webber. Narcicist? Definitely. Sexist? Possibly. Racist? Probably not, just ignorant. It’s time for the Exec Director of @NorwichCityFC to tell him to keep quiet and go away to avoid any further embarrassment for the club and city.

@kierancphoto: Stuart Webber. Helmet. Dont give him a job anywhere ever again

@gdunbarap: An embarrassment to the club that, finally, no longer employs him.

@danrtgn: Genuinely demented comments

@AzeemRafiq30: Complete utter disgrace – cricket or football the problem is huge especially around talent pathways. We saw it with county chairs in cricket & several examples in football The cycle continues – few more PR responses – perpetrator turns in to victim. Disgusting 🤮

@Englander1512: Absolutely. Stuart Webber hang your head in shame 😡

@TheGarethGamble: Surely the club and Board need to come out and condemn these comments. Not that anything additional was even needed but this must now be the catalyst in severing any remaining ties with Stuart Webber.

@YeOldeMMRF: Just former #ncfc sporting director Stuart Webber engaging in casual racism. He’s already been called out by two of these player’s mothers among others. Never let this man near a football club again.

@reubenc2005: Disgusted and appalled to see Stuart Webber’s thoughts on the @pinkun this morning. Blatant casual racism towards Rowe, Kamara and our former players Max Aarons, Jamal Lewis and current Chelsea player Raheem Sterling. No place for it in football.

@RKH4658: Man makes racist comments, man gets caught out, man thinks oh shit, Man reaches out to family to “Apologise” and repeat

@EntertainerJoel: This is shockingly very disappointing to read his comments in regards to Black footballers.

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