Forum | General Discussion

No one can accuse West Ham United of doing things by half when it comes to shooting themselves in the foot, and continuing along with this ethos the club has really managed to surpass itself in the last couple of days. Even the most skeptical of fans cannot believe it was a deliberate act in order to divert attention from what was a truly awful January transfer window, but never the less Hammers' Director of Player Recruitment Tony Henry has managed to go where few others have been by managing to not only alienate a fine group of players that are at the club but also ensured that anyone of African descent will think twice about joining 'racist' West Ham!

Judge for yourself whether Henry just chose the wrong words to express his feelings, or if his comments were misconstrued or if he is totally racist without realising it! below is a full transcript of his words, followed by the club's offcial response to Henry's comments.
FULL TONY HENRY TRANSCRIPT

“Because we had three and we felt we didn’t particularly want any more African players.”
When questioned why, Henry said: “Erm, no reason. It’s nothing racist at all. It’s just sometimes they can have a bad attitude.
“We had problems with Sakho, with Diafra Sakho. We find that when they are not in the team they cause mayhem. It’s nothing against the African race at all.
“I mean, look, there are top African players. There’s not a problem with them. It’s just sometimes they cause a lot of problems when they are not playing, as we had with Diafra. He’s left, so great. It’s nothing personal at all.”
When pressed as to whether he thought his comments were discriminatory, Henry replied: “In what way?”
Asked if he thought he comments were derogatory towards African players, Henry added: “No. I don’t know what you are trying to get at here. All I said was, look, we have a great lad in (Cheikhou) Kouyate, he’s brilliant, a great player for us, he’s a good lad.
“But the likes of Sakho have caused mayhem. When he’s not playing … he always wants a new deal. That’s all it was. It was nothing discriminatory at all.
“I could say we get offered Russian players. I just find with Russian players that they don’t settle in England.
“It’s like Italians. How many Italians come and settle in England? As a club we are not discriminatory at all.
“If you’ve got too many, they all sit together and it becomes a situation where you can have problems. But then you can have problems with English players. I don’t know what you are driving at.”

West Ham United Official Statement:

The Club can confirm that Director of Player Recruitment Tony Henry has been suspended pending a full and thorough investigation. West Ham United will not tolerate any type of discrimination and has, therefore, acted swiftly due to the serious nature of these claims.
The West Ham United family is an inclusive one where, regardless of gender, age, ability, race, religion or sexual orientation, everybody feels welcome and included.
The Club will make no further comment until the investigation has been concluded.

Well there we have it, at best Hammers come across as dated and racist, at worst damage has been caused that will not go away, eventually it will be a case of 'Taxi for Henry' because there is no amount of spin, particularly from a hierarchy that is already despised by most fans, that can gloss over what are racist comments. Tony Henry will argue that his comments have been taken out of context, he will furhter argue that the reporter who was questioning him had a pre-set agenda that was deigned to 'ensnare' him while he was off guard. Two things (a) Henry should have chosen his words more carefully, after all he has been in the business for a long time, and (b) What on earth was Tony Henry doing talking to the press in the first place? There are Press and PR people at the club who are paid good money exactly in order to avoid such embarrassments, so maybe they should 'fall on the sword' along with Henry, because until he has gone there will be a nasty stigma hanging over the club. - Ed