NEVILLE WILLIAMS/ASTON VILLA FC/GETTY IMAGEScontrol is mentally unstabling’
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the times | Saturday September 12 2020 2GS 9
business, keeping one eye on his post-playing
days. “I’ve got no interest in coaching or
managing,” he says. “If I stayed in football it
would be in an executive position.” Mings would
like to address the imbalance of diversity in the
corridors of power, particularly at the FA. “Are
there opportunities for black and ethnic
minorities to move into those positions? At the
moment no. The FA’s one governing body. Look
right through every elite sport in this country
and I don’t think the diversity is there. There is
a long way to go.
“We’ve done great work in the coaching
sector, pathways especially within the FA at
every junior level, they have someone of ethnic
minority on the coaching staff. To get that
representation in the boardroom eventually
would be great.”
Mings is unimpressed with the Premier
League’s decision to swap the sleeve badge
stating “Black Lives Matter” for the anodyne
“No room for racism”.
The Premier League became twitchy about
the BLM association with the political
movement. “Every player that I’ve spoken to in
relation to Black Lives Matter has said the
political element is completely irrelevant. We
are talking about the lack of opportunities,
racial stereotyping and unconscious bias
towards ethnic minorities.
“I think it’s tokenism they’ve put ‘no room for
racism’. We’re talking about an isolated group of
people hugely represented in the Premier
League and that’s black players.
“‘No room for racism’ on a shirt seems a little
bit like the Premier League is taking a back
step.”
He experiences racism. “There’s unconscious
racism, things like going into a designer shop if
you’re black or you’ve got a hood up, there are
stereotypes that unfortunately follow you about.
Security are more on edge. People follow you
around the shop. If you drive a nice car, you’re
stopped by the police more. That happened to
me when I went back to Chippenham. I was
driving a Range Rover and the police were like,
‘This car isn’t from around here, why are you
here?’. And there are far more scenarios that
happen in places like London. With the more
generations that go on, and hopefully the
quicker [Donald] Trump gets out of power, the
more it should be driven out.”
He is proud of Villa’s strong stance on racism.
“We were the first people to take the knee
before the first Premier League game back [of
Project Restart]. Between myself and Dave
McGoldrick at Sheffield United we thought that
would be a powerful statement.”
Mings knows there wouldn’t be universal
approval if players took a knee in front of a full
stadium. “No. And there wouldn’t be universalapproval on ‘no room for racism’ on the shirts
because a lot of fans come to football to get
away from political messages, from the everyday
news. I only have to log into Twitter and go into
my mentions to find that is the case.”
Some fans would boo him taking a knee. “Yes,
of course,” he says. “I wouldn’t really care
because any Aston Villa fan that wants to turn
up and support me but not support an
antiracism message is no fan of mine.
“We’re a generation where players have a
platform on social media so we can be more
powerful. I’m not a captain here but we’re all in
a WhatsApp group speaking about the anti-
racism messages, speaking about what we can
do for Black Lives Matter. There’s a new-found
unity across different clubs which hasn’t always
been there. People aren’t afraid to talk out.”
So why didn’t he, and the other England
players, walk off in Sofia last October when
subjected to monkey chants by a group of
Bulgaria fans? “Good question. We wanted to
follow the protocol. We wanted the relevant
authorities [Uefa] to have the power to make the
right decisions and give out the relevant
sanctions once we followed the right protocol. If
we’d walked off then, if they had to follow their
protocol they might have fined us. It would havetaken the attention away from what really was
the issue. If it happened again, I would follow
the protocol. It was a collective decision.”
He has just been with Gareth Southgate’s
squad in Iceland and Denmark for the Nations
League qualifiers. “Four points from two games
isn’t the end of the world,” he says. “It was not
ideal to go there and not play but it was good to
mix with the boys, training, and a good few
conversations with the manager.
“I speak to Gareth Southgate about the
personality test you can do to understand your
role within a team. What makes a good leader?
Some people need shouting at in front of the
team. Some people need an arm around the
shoulder. Some people need speaking to in
private. Some people need being left to their
own devices. I’m a helper.
“My ego isn’t big enough to think that I know
everything or that I’ve cracked it or now I’ve
played for England and Aston Villa that I’m at
the peak. It’s always humbling to know I’m not
taking a knee, inset, is not happy that the Premier League has ditched the Black Lives Matter slogan the finished article as a person or as a player.”
I’ve seen life on the other side
and I know what people will be
feeling, the stresses people are
under. I have had them myself