Andre Gray owes it to himself to be a role model after Watford star spoke passionately about Black Lives Matter movement – The Sun

ANDRE GRAY gave a series of interviews this month in which he spoke eloquently and forcefully about the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Watford striker was convincing and thought-provoking about the realities of being a young BAME man in Britain.

In speaking as he did, he performed a great service for football, and wider society.

Gray said: “I can’t even count how many times I’ve been pulled over (by police).

“I can’t count how many times I’ve gone to a club and not got in, how many times a security guard has followed me round a shop. I can’t count how many times that somebody has asked me if I’m a footballer because I’ve come out of a nice car.

“Look, at the end of the day, I’m three people in this country. And that’s either a footballer, a rapper or a drug dealer. These are the facts.”

On Friday night, Gray threw a 29th birthday party – attended by 20 people, including his Watford team-mate Domingos Quina – contravening government rules.

It remains unclear if midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah also made the bash or whether he came into contact with the pair on Saturday.

But all three were frozen out of the squad for Sunday’s 3-1 home defeat by Southampton ‘to ensure the health and safety of all players, staff or officials’.

It was a strongly-worded statement from Watford, a relegation-threatened side who have been affected more by coronavirus infections and fears than any other club.

This is a club which – to its credit and unlike some other Premier League outfits – encourages its players to speak out freely in interviews such as Gray’s.

Now, just because Gray broke social-distancing guidelines and left his team-mates in the cart, his words about racial discrimination are no less relevant.

But in those interviews, he spoke of ‘ignorant people who don’t understand’. Ignorant people like those supporters of Gray’s former club who flew a plane over the Etihad Stadium stating ‘White Lives Matter Burnley’.

People who sympathise with that insidious message are the people Gray needs to convince. And sadly, there are many.

Write a piece condemning the Burnley Luftwaffe and several will crawl out from beneath their stones and accuse you, and the Premier League, of supporting Marxism and criminality.

So, once putting himself up – admirably – as a spokesman, Gray owes it to himself and his sport to act as a role model.

When you use your platform as a prominent footballer to make such important points, it is even more important that you don’t show such flagrant disregard for team-mates.

In 2016, Gray was banned and fined for some vile homophobic tweets he sent four years earlier – for which he apologised, claiming he was then a ‘different person’. Nobody is perfect and people can change.

Yet few of us would ever have posted on social media that we wanted gay people to ‘burn and die’. Again, this past leaves Gray with extra responsibility.

So not for the first time, Watford boss Nigel Pearson has been let down by players in a high-profile case of off-field indiscipline.

In 2015, Pearson was sacked by Leicester after three players – including his son James – were filmed on a racist sex tape while on a club tour of Thailand, home of the club’s owners.

Pearson had just led Leicester to their great escape from relegation.

And given that there was little evidence of genius in his successor Claudio Ranieri, before or after Leicester’s miraculous title triumph, you could argue that Pearson might have been a Premier League winner but for that incident.

Yet after the Southampton defeat, the Watford boss was coy about the behaviour of Gray, Chalobah and Quina.

He used a club investigation into the party as an excuse, yet plenty believed Pearson could and should have said more – to borrow his own term, there was something of the ‘ostrich burying its head in the sand’ about it all.

Pearson has the well-earned image of a man you wouldn’t want to mess with – a quick-tempered, burly former centre-half. Yet away from the spotlight, you will find a thoughtful, inquisitive and introspective man.

He will have been thinking long and hard about this. And thinking about that damaging incident in Thailand too.

Watford’s manager needs strength in depth with his team in the mire and fixtures coming fast.

Yet, as Mikel Arteta has proved by ditching Matteo Guendouzi from Arsenal’s squad, setting a firm example to miscreants can improve a squad’s togetherness and results.

Pearson must make a similar stand – even though Gray has now aplologised publicly and to his team-mates.

In future, Gray needs to engage his brain first. His wider message is too important to allow it to be compromised.

MIT HARSH

ALEKSANDAR MITROVIC badly damaged Fulham’s promotion bid with a brutal elbow on Leeds defender Ben White.

And it earned him a three-match retrospective ban.

But the character assassination inflicted on the Serbian by Sky pundit Steve McClaren was extraordinary.

McClaren, sacked by Newcastle in 2016 with Mitrovic part of his relegation-bound squad, claimed the striker was sent off twice in his first five games, when he was actually only red-carded once.

McClaren also claimed Mitrovic will ‘never change’ — although he has scored 46 goals in 90 league appearances for Fulham, is the joint Championship top scorer and had not been sent off in four years.

Others have man-managed him well and there is a reason why McClaren was on a TV gantry and not in a dugout.

Still, co-commentators with extreme personal vendettas really could be the way forward.

TRENT’S TOP NIC

SO who’s your Footballer of the Year?

The front runners are Jordan Henderson, inspirational captain of a great Liverpool team, and Marcus Rashford, magnificent charity worker and forcer of Government U-turns.

But what about Trent Alexander-Arnold, the Scouse lad who has contributed three goals and 12 assists from right-back for the new Premier League champions — and who is England’s best crosser and dead-ball merchant since David Beckham?

No full-back has won the award since Steve Nicol, who also played at centre-half, 31 years ago.

And few have ever been more influential than Alexander-Arnold.

NOT CUP TO IT

STEVE BRUCE knows his Newcastle job is under threat, due to the potential Saudi takeover, which would make them the most ambitious club in England.

So, after earning a shot at glory with his club’s first FA Cup quarter-final in 14 years against Manchester City, surely Bruce should have shown the ambition to try to win it.

STAND-UP GUY

BEN STOKES is likely to stand in as skipper for England’s First Test against West Indies.

If Stokes took over as full-time captain, there would be doubts that he might struggle with the workload, as did fellow all-rounders Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff.

Yet unlike those two, Stokes is a batsman who bowls, rather than a bowler who bats.

He also appears more astute as a cricketer and as a leader of men.

Source: Read Full Article