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this: “Raheem Sterling treats himself to a spot of
breakfast despite missing out on being crowned Young
Player Of The Year the night before”. Was he supposed
to starve?
It was the racism wot did it. Racism, Sterling is in no
doubt, was largely responsible for the negative profile
and his decision to speak out about it the reason for the
turnaround. For the latter, he can thank a small group
of middle-aged Chelsea fans – now banned – whose
alleged racist abuse as he went to retrieve the ball for a
throw-in led to a night of soul-searching followed by the
posting on social media of a few thoughts that sparked
a huge debate he never saw coming. He chose not to
write about his own experience the night before, but
instead focus on the broader context: the way that young
black players are covered compared with their white
counterparts. White Phil Foden buys a house for his
mother: sweet, generous, family man, lovely story. Black
Tosin Adarabioyo does the same: flashy, overpaid, bling,
why is he able to afford that? It was a moment.
It now means Sterling is asked for his views on issues
well beyond football. Yet he insists he is not political,
doesn’t follow politics closely, just said what he thought
on racism and intends to keep doing so.
Oh, and then there’s football. He is a very, very good
footballer. The top clubs had been clamouring to get
him since he was a small child growing up in Wembley
and his mother advised him to ignore the entreaties
of Arsenal and instead go to Queens Park Rangers.
Still the big guns came for him and when he was 15
he was off to Liverpool. The talent was never in doubt.
What was sometimes in doubt, there and in his first
year at City, was whether he would make the most of
it. His recent form for club and country has provided
the answer, though it is clear he shares the Guardiola
hunger for constant improvement, the belief there is
always more to achieve.
As we talked at City’s training centre, there
were moments when I felt strongly that all the hype
was justified, that there was something special about
this guy. And there is. But there were also moments
when it struck me that he is in many ways still very
young, younger than all my children, yet managing
a huge profile, a big responsibility and, now, huge
expectations on and off the field and fatherhood too.
And yet he’s already thinking about his future beyond
his playing days.
The Abu Dhabi-backed Etihad Campus, as it is
rather grandly called, is like nothing else I have ever
seen in football. It is hard to see how any footballer
could resist such state-of-the-art facilities as a
professional environment. Sterling looks like he will
be around these parts for a long time. “Oh, we do
love Raheem,” the Manchester United-supporting
receptionist told me. But the Jamaican-born player,
whose mother moved to England after Sterling’s father
was murdered when his son was just two, hopes one day
to play overseas, preferably somewhere with Jamaican
not Manchester weather.
But fear not, City fans, he is not going anywhere any
time soon. He looks to me like a round peg in a round
hole, very much Manchester City’s – and football’s – man
of the moment.
Do you feel you’ve gone from what you once described as
“the hated one” to the loved one? There is a lot of love out
there at the moment.
Yeah, to be honest, there is. I’m grateful for people to
truly see me for who I am really.Did you expect that kind of thing would happen as a result of
what you’ve said about racism?
No, not for one moment. I never thought it would have
such a massive impact. It’s great to know people are
listening. The one thing about people in this country is
they are always willing to listen. I’m really grateful for
that.It was interesting when you did the Instagram post. It wasn’t
about you. It was about another player, wasn’t it?
Yeah, I didn’t want it to be self-centred. People knew
what happened the day before and I just thought I had
those pictures [of the Mail Online stories about Foden
and Adarabioyo] already on my phone. I’ve always
thought it was an issue and I thought, “Let me use
this example to bring light to this situation that I felt I
needed to speak up on.”What is the issue?
I was thinking of the wording, the subtle messages that
newspapers use, that’s had a massive effect on how the
public perceive a lot of young black players, because
you start associating the words “bling” at the end of
sentences, you start associating subtle words, so people
think, “OK, this person is this sort of character.” If the
public don’t see you on a regular basis and don’t know
you, that’s what their perception of you is going to be.
That’s who they think you are and that’s how they’re
going to judge you unless you’re on the football field.Did you feel that those guys at Chelsea wouldn’t be doing
that if it wasn’t embedded in our culture?
I’d say for sure. Everyone naturally judges people
anyway. I definitely know that they had a perception of
me and probably not a good one.Say that happened again and again and again, or an
opponent was being racist or another set of fans was being
racist, would you ever think about walking off the pitch?
I wouldn’t, not during a game. If it was a continuous
thing happening to me, after a while I might go on
strike, but I wouldn’t want the game to stop and come off
the field.Did it affect you that day for the rest of that game?
No. You want to show them that you’re bigger than that.
I’m not the sort of person to show their emotions. I try to
prove them wrong and make that person hate me even
more for doing the right thing.When were you first aware of racism?
The first time I came face-to-face with it was when I was
walking home from school in Liverpool.Not growing up in Wembley?
Never. My school was multicultural. The first time I ever
got abuse was in Liverpool. I had just been bought from