Just a year ago, Jose Mourinho, then Manchester United (English Soccer Club) coach, dropped Paul Pogba for two games. Pogba was arguably the best player on that team. But Mourinho sat him on the bench for absolutely no reason but to punish the best player on the team for his coaching failure.

More, together wit the media and the BBC in particular, Mourinho came out berating Pogba in public. This is what he said a year ago: “Tomorrow he plays. He is a player like the others… No player is bigger than the club. If I am happy with his work he plays, if I am not he doesn’t play. I am really happy with his work this week. He trained really well. The team needs good players. He is a good player… Manchester United is bigger than anyone. I have to defend that.”

Now, juxtapose what Mourinho said about the Manchester United’s best player, Paul Pogba, and what he said about Eric Dier yesterday, now that Mourinho is coach of Tottenham (another mediocre English Soccer Club). Mourinho substituted Eric Dier in just 29 minutes, a very shameful thing for a player to endure. Some will argue that act is on par with being dropped for two games when one is clearly the best player such as in Pogba’s case! Both players were cited by the coach for non-performance.

But see how different Dier is treated by the words of Mourinho: “The most difficult moment of the game for me was not when Olympiakos scored their first or second goal. It was when I made the change in the first half… I hurt the player but hurt myself. He’s a very intelligent boy who has a good understanding of what a team is. It wasn’t about his performance, it was about what the team needed.”

Mourinho didn’t end there, he even continued further to apologize to Dier: “I felt one midfield player was enough. We needed a second creative player who could play with Alli in an open triangle and not a closed triangle with Dier and Harry Winks. I apologised to him, although he knows I did it for the team. Christian gave us what we needed.”

Can you imagine Jose Mourinho apologizing for treating any African player, like Paul Pogba, a World Cup Winner, A Euro Cup Winner, like the way he just treated Dier? (Paul Pogba is not French; he did not descend from the Gauls; He is West African; His two older brother play for Guinea in West Africa. Pogba has been forced by colonial machinations into becoming a Soccer Mercenary for France.)

Instead of pointing out the gross Pharisaism in Mourinho’s treatment of Dier and Pogba, the media, including the BBC, are busy painting the new coach of Tottenham in the brightest of lights, as a new breed of human being: “The Humble One – Mourinho’s new persona in evidence in Tottenham comeback.” (The BBC).

The policy in Europe and North America it seems, with regard to race relations, in the treatment of people of African descent is simple: hurt them and claim you’ve changed. The US Mass Incarceration System is one gross example. Every African American has been thrown into jail, and still continues to be thrown into jail for heroin, marijuana, weed possessions. In fact the crack-cocaine epidemic did not devastate the African American communities of the US because the drug was evil, not at all. The Whites US Law Enforcement’s kidnapping and incarceration of Black people across the nation for the dubious reasons of stemming an epidemic that never was, was actually the epidemic itself. White US Law Enforcement was clearly what destroyed many Black communities. Not the drugs!

Many decades later, the same white Law Enforcement Departments of America have decided that kidnapping and incarceration are not real solutions when it comes to heroin-weed-crack heads in New England, USA. Why? The victims there are white, not Black. The White Law enforcement units of North America will transport a white man to a clinic to be saved after a drug overdose, but will arrest and jail the next man, the Black, for years, even decades, for possessing a stick of weed.

The Pharisaism amongst the white communities of Europe and North America is clear: Dier deserves apology but Pogba does not. It has nothing to do with a changed coach but everything to do with a 500 year old history of Anti-Blackness, Anti-Africanness in European culture.

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~ Success is a horrible teacher. It seduces the ignorant into thinking that he can’t lose. It seduces the intellectual into thinking that he must win. Success corrupts; Only usefulness exalts. ~ WP. Narmer Amenuti (which names translate: Dances With Lions), was born by The River, deep within the heartlands of Ghana, in Ntoaboma. He is a public intellectual from the Sankoré School of Critical Theory, where he trained and was awarded the highest degree of Warrior Philosopher at the Temple of Narmer. As a Culture Critic and a Guan Rhythmmaker, he is a dilettante, a dissident and a gadfly, and he eschews promotional intellectualism. He maintains strict anonymity and invites intellectuals and lay people alike to honest debate. He reads every comment. If you enjoyed this essay and would like to support more content like this one, please pour the Ancestors some Libation in support of my next essay, or you can go bold, very bold and invoke them. Here's my CashApp: $TheRealNarmer

51 COMMENTS

  1. Those people who disagree with this post are part of the problem. Because usually they don’t think they deserve as much as others. So they settled for a little piece of a pie instead of a big slice or learning how to bake. They think Pogba should be happy to sit on the bench but Dier ahould be upset to be taken out. If we think we deserve so little, coaches like Mourinho will get no clapback for disrespecting us. We habe to be the people like NA who demand respect.

  2. i disagree. if any coach has given african players a chance and treated them with respect, it’s Jose. Pogba is his own problem

    • Maybe as you say, he gives African players a chance, he thinks he deserves to treat them anyhow he likes?
      You know you can always give people you like to abuse a chance, right? The two are not mutually exclusive.

    • Narmer Amenuti No! you are totally wrong. You can’t use just Pogba to judge him. Jose has had issues with players. Is Ike black? Ramos? On what basis are you saying “he thinks he can treat them any how? The evidence doesn’t support your assumption. i agree with the first comment. You are reaching or come up with a better factual explanation.

    • AL Ntow. I could be wrong. It won’t be the last time. But you fail to discuss what I wrote. I said Pogba and Dier are being treated differently by the same man and the same media. What is your point? I am waiting.

    • Narmer Amenuti reason i did not discuss it is because it’s not the first time Jose has done such a thing. Before you write, check first. Jose is eccentric and a pragmatist

    • “Everyone who follows football knows exactly that.” Are you pulling stuff out of your ass or what? Can’t you tell that I am one of those people who disagrees with you? Why can’t you defend your Massa, Mourinho, without castigating me? You know you are at liberty to defend him, anaaa?
      Some of you have learned that whenever we talk about race of people you should interject with the meme of “race-baiting.” My friends, find somewhere else to practice that Pharisaism, wai. If you want to defend Mourinho, do it wai, but don’t tell me he is some special white man for giving African players a chance. Kwasiasem.

      • Must everything be about race?…this kind of victim mentality is not helpful and we have moved past that.

    • Stephen Nii Tetteh, so you know something about football that we don’t know? Where do you empty-heads get this sort of language from?

  3. What’s race got to do with this? The reasons he gave for both decisions are very different and legit and they needed to be treated differently. Can’t we see past race to our failures?

    • Please, see past race! That is your world, wa’ti? Some of us cannot, because we stare it in the face every day. So perhaps we should discuss the issue at hand and stop telling people what they cannot do and can do? Jesus! If you have a point make it but it better be about what I wrote. I said the Media and the Coach are treating two people differently, and that this treatment is symptomatic of race relations in Europe and North America. Have you read it?

    • Narmer, maybe that’s why we are still lagging behind. Our inability to see beyond what holds us back. I’ve read what you’ve written and I think the coach is right if only what he said is really why he took those decisions. I would have done same in his position regardless of the race of the players.

  4. Mourinho has given African players more exposure than any European coach. Maybe you just started following European soccer. Do you know Michael Essien, Solomon Kalu, Didier Drogba,etc?

    • Narmer Amenuti Where’s the point of abuse here? African teams/coaches abused their own players more than foreigners. Do a survey on how African players are treated in their own land and come back again. Sometimes we must look beyond sentiments and emotions. It won’t take us anywhere

    • Most of your African players develop wings and becomes egotistic when they finally have money and fame. African players (most of them) are indiscipline

    • I see. I knew you had it in you to truly discuss how Europeans feel about African players and Black athletes. You see, we are getting somewhere. You seethe with the anti-Black indoctrination. So I ask: Are you sure you haven’t been influenced by the European painting of African players as undisciplined?

    • Narmer Amenuti Are you a fan of any European team? Do you follow European soccer at all? I can give you list of African players who have displayed gross indiscipline during live matches and even in the dressing room. I don’t need the media to tell me this. I’m a Liverpool FC fan. I have 4 of my top players from Africa. Sadio Mané/Senegal , Mohamed Salah/ Egypt, Naby Deco Keïta/ Guniea , Divock Origi/ Kenya. They are living a life of their dream at Liverpool. What you and i gotta do is to stop sitting behind our computers and sounding petty on social media. Life is beautiful, enjoy it

    • Nonsense wai! You claim you follow European soccer as if you follow it more than the rest of us. I have no idea what you mean when you say “I can give you list of African players who have displayed gross indiscipline”.
      What!!! I can give you list of European players who have displayed gross indiscipline during, before and after matches, Massa!!
      What in the world did you drink today? Someone’s over-peppered Hausa Koko without sugar or what? Please stop bloviating. You are not discussing the point of Dier and Pogba. You are shifting goal posts wa ti.

    • I think he would be amazing at Real. Have you seen lately what he was surrounded with at Manchester United? I think at some point players should also be judged by the kind of players around them. Soccer is after all an 11 on 11 game. One player cannot affect the game in the same way that one player can affect a basketball game. Else we must ask also say that Messi is not a serious guy because he flops for Argentina.

    • Narmer Amenuti Messi was voted best player at the 2014 World Cup! So you are wrong to say he flops with Argentina. That year they were second best, he also took them to two consecutive cops America finals!
      Did you see the game yesterday ( between Real and PSG) see how Naymer changed the game when he came in the second half! Put and players to play with him , a player of that caliber will perform!

    • Shwiaa Kai. Naymer paaa? He changed which game? Why? Because PSG came back 2-2? How many balls did he lose in the process. In fact, I have guys on ESPN FC talking about the very substitution of Naymer. Others disagree with you as I do. He didn’t affect the game kraaa! PSG got lucky. The first goal by Mbappe was a fluke. And so was the second goal up from the fluke momentum. Real had total control of the whole game until the momentary lapse in judgment in defense.

      Now there’s only one person between Messi and Pogba with a World Cup title: Pogba! Pogba has never lost a world cup final. He doesn’t know what that feels like. He has never lost a European cup final. He can’t possibly know what that feels like. And he certainly has never lost a Europa cup final. Pogba is seasoned winner by any account. Now, if you want to kill a player like that, like Pogba, what do you do? You bring him to Manchester United. Even Naymer will run away and hide in the Galapogo Islands if he was ever linked with Man Utd. There’s a reason even Bale, the failed soccer player who makes more money than Gold Merchants in NYC, won’t accept any links with Man. Utd. That atmosphere at Man Utd deserves proper attention in discussing Pogba’s success or failure there.

    • Narmer Amenuti you are just too biased no need to argue! But pogba as a player is no where near Messi or Neymar

  5. My answer. No. Those two have something that Pogba doesn’t have. Sure. I agree. But does the best player always win that thing? The voters will beg to differ. What award doesn’t beg to differ however is winning the cups! Pogba is a seasoned winner. Full stop oh. No dancing about the bush or nipidating about the nest. He has shown to win in two different clubs, not one. He has shown to be prolific at country-level too. Hence my point.

    • Narmer Amenuti you have no point! Pogba is the product of French soccer , their effort at developing youth soccer is indeed a success story period!

    • So the goal post has changed to who developed Pogba? If the French are so great at developing anything, how come any French player ( and I mean one descended from Gauls) is still yet to develop under the same system to the levels achieved by Pogba, Mbappe, Zidane, Kante, etc.?
      From where I stand, Guinea is a better producer or special soccer players than France. I won’t give the French that much credit. Not at all.

  6. If it’s Mourinho you want to use to make a case on the matter of Racism, then you misfired. No single coach at top flight football has given more respect and opportunities to black players than Jose.
    Nonetheless, he’s been known for his toughness on players which cost him a great deal in his last three jobs; Madrid, Chelsea and ManU. Not to mention the fact that Pogba is known for being a miserable twerp who’s chronically underperforming because of his childish sense of entitlement.
    Was Jose being racist when he had issues with Iker Casillas, Juan Mata, and a host of other European players; including his own compatriot, Christiano Ronaldo?
    In one of the most recent interviews that he gave at Tottenham, he clearly stated that he will no longer repeat the old mistakes he made, but he may as well make new mistakes. Could his sympathetic introspection towards Dier be a manifestation of the new emotionally aware Mourinho? Possibly so. But from Essien, through Drogba to Eto’O , as well as many black players who flourished under him; and even that cracker called Ballotelli, their reports of Jose will show you clearly that he’s rather the opposite of what you sought to portray him to be.

    • You are nipidating about your nest. Stop a little and read what I wrote again, wai, Massa! Stop beating about the bush, I am talking about Dier and Pogba. Not Essien, not Ronaldo. Mourinho doesn’t feed me, wai.

    • It’s okay to get it wrong, no need rationalizing what is clearly a misconception from your end regarding the person of Jose. It’s not worth it. We all get our spellings wrong now and then.?

    • That is your problem! Isn’t it? You are obsessed with right and wrong. Either I am right or I am wrong. There’s nothing besides that world for you. So let me break it to you in plain language wai. You’ve been looking for me to be wrong for so long that you’ve gotten your Eureka moment.

      Sure, enjoy it wai. I don’t spend time to write to be wrong or right, wai Massa. I want nuance. If you don’t get it, it’s not your fault Massa. I wasn’t raised thinking there’s a wrong and right answer. This is why you can’t see further than alleging that I have said Mourinho is racist. The more you write the more you show how much you are stooped in this right and wrong business.

  7. Definitely, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Mourinho, a racist? His wife is an Angolan, if you don’t know. But for him, Essien and Adebayor would never dream of playing for Madrid. He’s the only top European manager who’s purchased African players in all the teams he’s managed. Even with Pogba, he sanctioned for his purchase. So why would he hate a player he brought back to united, just because he’s black? What about Eric Bailey? Is he white?

    • Even how Jose shielded Pogba from the Media attack dogs who claimed Pogba wasn’t worth the price tag was something elsewhere. ?

    • Mourinho loves Black soccer players because his wife is Angolan. This too is argument? Mourinho likes some Black soccer players because he shielded Pogba from English vituperation? This too is argument?
      What has all this beating about the bush got to do with his differential treatment of Dier and Pogba in the same league, withing the year, back to back? Ebei.

    • Not everyone is Racist, trying to reduce every event to racism leads to such analytical faux pas as you displayed above. Your characterization of Jose was narrow and misplaced. I have shown you clearly that he’s had issues with more European players who’re not black. So how would you characterize him for not apologizing to those other players? He had his issues with Juan Mata, way from Chelsea, and even when he met him at ManU , playing along Pogba. So was he racist for not apologizing to Juan Mata too? Your analysis simply has no basis.

  8. You lack English comprehension, wai. I wrote that the differential treatment that a single coach has dished out to two different people within a give year is symptomatic of the cultural racism pervasive in European soccer.
    Whether you agree with the event as symptom of the pervasiveness of racism in European sports is neither here nor there. The fact is, the players I compared had received different treatments from Mourinho and the media. You something, you are at liberty to say you don’t think this is a symptom. But to initiate your comments alleging that I am race baiting or calling people racist is jumentous idiocy, wai. Hell, silly and ignorant! It shows you are not reading! You don’t need outright racists to have a racist society.

    • Continue entertaining yourself with the strainous explications. Clearly it’s pointless.
      It’s said that refusing to accept that you’re mistaken, when it’s clear you are, is like an impotent man struggling desperately to rape a young nubile girl.
      I won’t indulge you any further. Adios.?

  9. Let me tell u something. Jose has been known for “rinsing” players in public. The Press didn’t like it n have called him out several times for it. He’s been off work for 11 months. Now he claims he has “changed”..so now he’s portraying that he’s now humble. Whether that’s true or not is another matter. However he knows how to play the media game and that’s what he’s doing!

  10. I’m a big big fan of Manchester United and everyone knows my opinion of Paul Pogba. I’ve said it several times here and IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH JOSE MOURINHO.. maybe you can explain why a player who has an ankle injury is playing basketball whilst his team languishes in 9th place 20 POINTS OFF LIVERPOOL

  11. For most Metha, unless Mourinho is holding a knife to a Black man, he cannot be racist. The man had issues with any Black player he’s ever had on his team. This thing with Dier vs Pogba treatment is special. It’s symptomatic of European football in general.

  12. It looks like football is the new Cathedral!!
    And this is one of the few topics in which people are willing to express themselves fully and be heard. when one raises issues about football culture one finds themselves “stepping on other people’s toes” by inadvertently antagonizing their beliefs that they hold to religiously… European football has become another “African” religion and the coaches and players are its high priests practicing their “fine arts” in the stadium “cathedrals”! Our women have not caught on yet to this new religion and still go to the old missionary churches but the majority of African men now tune in to worship the new religion; but when you think about it, this debate could easily have transpired decades ago between the natives who thought the white missionaries incurable racists and those who did not see or sense their racism…

  13. How can you even begin to put the two together and make a case of racial abuse and neglect?…its clearly farfetched and actually embarrassing.

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