Was the appointment of Ryan Mason racist?

[DarwinSpur]

Catching up on various Podcasts and discovered Chris Miller (aka WinydCoys) using the forums of The Extra Inch and Fighting Cock podcasts to push the accusation that Ryan Mason being appointed Interim Head Coach over the more qualified and experienced Chris Powell was an act of "structural racism".

I'm not sure I agree with this assessment. It seems to me that the appointment of Mason was far more likely to be motivated by the fact Mason is a "one of our own" feel good story allowing the fans continuity and, perhaps, a sense of recall to the best of the Pochettino era - helping to smooth the transition from the divisive end of the Mourinho era, while a search for a permanent head coach is carried out.

I also wonder if its not a bit offensive to suggest Chris Powell would take on the assistant Head Coach role if he thought he was being overlooked for the top job because of the colour of his skin.

Maybe my assessment is wrong? But it seems a pretty incendiary accusation to make by a person with a fairly large forum to make it from. Is it a fair one?

What do people think?

 

[thebenjamin]

Jesus christ

 

[Aphex]

What the actual....?

 

[DarwinSpur]

Jesus christ

Careful - that might be structural anti-Christian bigotry"

 

[wadewill]

My word.....literally everything that's wrong with the World

 

[King of Otters]

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.

 

[MassadaTom]

push the accusation that Ryan Mason being appointed Interim Head Coach over the more qualified and experienced Chris Powell was an act of "structural racism".

i think that "structural racism" is bollocks term. Trying to push guilt from individuals into institution for political gains.
Are the Board Members Racist? i have no idea. I would ask Chris Powell.

 

[tottenhamlad]

the state of this country at the minute is mind boggling.

 

[jimbo]

Fucking wet wipe.

If Chris Powell were to tell us that he had been overlooked, then maybe there could be something in it. However, he hasn't and neither you nor I nor Windy Miller know what conversations were had as to whether CP wanted it, or was needed to continue in his current (important) role for stability or whatever else.

There could be unconscious bias at play as King of Otters suggests, but there's no way Windy has the information or is close enough to the reasons behind the decision or the selection process to make that call.

 

[Shadydan]

We really don't need this conversation

 

[DarwinSpur]

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

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.

 

['O Zio]

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.

 

[The Scarecrow]

If anyone's a racist, it's Windy. Powell's black, and Windy immediately realises that's something he can use to try and prove to the world how progressive and open minded he is. Fuck him.

 

[King of Otters]

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.

Yeah maybe, but Ledley has zero managerial experience. Mason has at least been manager in the academy and presumably has ambitions in that direction.

 

[DarwinSpur]

We really don't need this conversation

Perhaps not. But Chris Miller has a large forum and has been using it to make this accusation. So... it's out there.

 

[Amo]

I think people misinterpret the term racism here. The way they've defined it is in terms of societal/hierarchical structures not in terms of individual racial discrimination.

The question is whether Mason's race contributed to being in the position to get fast-tracked so many times in the first place.

That could be down to friendly raport with the decision-makers that is made easier by a stronger common cultural upbringing or it could be down to bonding over two people's shared love for a band that is disproportionately followed by white people. Not to mention economic, geographical, cultural and societal factors beyond everyday social interaction.

Those two examples above are very crude but the point is many little things like this compound over lifetimes and are very hard to untangle.

Not saying I agree with the hypothesis that inspired this thread: it's a single example in a small sample size that has 100s of variables we can't really control for. But the issue is that the same thing occurs elsewhere everyday and while we can't ever single out an example with certainty, we also can't really deny that at least a sizable minority of those cases are impacted by structural factors. You can reject the accusation made against a specific example without rejecting the overall trend.

Just feel it's going to be misconstrued to hell without ever being tackled on its merits

 

[absolute bobbins]

There is so much stupid about this assertion

a. Does Windy know if Powell was asked or not? I doubt it
b. Does he even know who was involved in the decision to give the job to Mason? I doubt this even more
c. Powell has big and very important job already without having to deal with the entirety of the first team and their bullshit too.
d. Putting Mason in temporary charge of the first team would be far less disruptive to the rest of the club than shifting Powell and putting someone in interim charge of coaching.

Yes it would have been good for optics but unless it's the full time job it would just be a meaningless platitudes and tokenism.

 

[DarwinSpur]

If anyone's a racist, it's Windy. Powell's black, and Windy immediately realises that's something he can use to try and prove to the world how progressive and open minded he is. Fuck him.

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

 

[Stamford]

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

 

[HodisGawd]

i think that "structural racism" is bollocks term. Trying to push guilt from individuals into institution for political gains.
Are the Board Members Racist? i have no idea. I would ask Chris Powell.

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