Liverpool’s first black player speaks out

LIVERPOOL. — I get asked the same question regularly: ‘‘What was the secret of Liverpool’s success?’’ Many of Liverpool’s players will answer similarly and talk about the simple intensity of the coaching, the training and the instructions: the degree of trust. All of that is true. Underlying everything, though, was the culture of one-upmanship.The intensity was fierce. The theory stated that if you could deal with the intensity of training against the best players in the country, day in, day out, matches would be easy. As the first black player, my situation was unique. I had to show a greater mental resilience to survive and succeed. There were black footballers after me who enjoyed a more successful time at Liverpool. After I left, John Barnes became the first black player to be signed by Liverpool from another club.

He quickly earned the nickname of ‘‘Digger’’, after Digger Barnes in the Dallas television series. Personally, I wouldn’t have accepted that because of its closeness to the ‘‘N’’ word.

Yet John and I had very different upbringings. While I was brought up in white Norris Green where there were very few black families and racism was a part of life, John lived in Jamaica around other black people.

His family were reasonably wealthy and well respected in Kingston. John Barnes did not have to confront racism on a daily basis, for me racism was the norm — the routine.

I do not intend for my story to sound like one laced with self-pity. But I cannot ignore the reality. I had challenged all hostility towards me throughout my life. In Norris Green, I couldn’t afford to accept grey areas: the type of grey areas that existed in the humour at Melwood.

Phil Thompson had a big nose so people took the piss out of him for that. David Fairclough had bright red hair, so he became a target. Me? I was black. I wasn’t accustomed to this type of humour. It was difficult to tell whether some of it was humour or whether it was really intended to offend. What is unacceptable language when it is passed off as banter?

The culture at Liverpool dictated I was expected to just allow it to go over my head and not take things so seriously. But it wasn’t in my make-up to let certain words get used without responding forcefully. So I came back at them. It contributed towards me getting the reputation as someone who had an attitude problem: someone who was reluctant to fit in. — The Guardian.