Ian Wright says he won’t be FA’s ‘Uncle Tom’
Former England striker Ian Wright has said he would love to work to break down discrimination but ruled out working with the Football Association’s current management.
Wright was speaking after FA chief executive Martin Glenn and chairman Greg Clarke were grilled by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee over their handling of the Mark Sampson saga.
Eni Aluko said she felt “vindicated” after an investigation concluded former England Women manager Sampson made remarks towards her and team-mate Drew Spence which were “discriminatory on grounds of race”.
Striker Aluko claimed the FA had an agenda to protect Sampson and its own reputation during her evidence to a sport governance inquiry.
Asked if he would be interested in playing a role in helping to reform the FA, Wright told BBC 5 Live he would answer their phone call but would need to “hear the right things” as he has no interest in working for the organisation at present.
“I would jump at the chance to be involved in any kind of anti-discrimination committee or whatever, just to be there to help, but no way on this earth am I going into this FA under the current climate,” he said.
“I don’t want to work under these people. The whole thing has got to change. If I go in on my own and try to change it, people will come in waves weighing me down.
“For whatever reason I’ll get accused of being an Uncle Tom, I’ll be the black guy they’ve put up. ‘Ian likes this’. I can’t be the only one there. I’ve got to have someone above me I can go to. He’s got to be on a level with these people…
“I’d listen to them but I’d need to hear the right things. I’m not going in there to whitewash anything. If I don’t feel anything’s right, I’m going public. Bang. Then people say, ‘Ian Wright, he’s a troublemaker’.
“You cannot understand how much you need people around you, why you feel so isolated in these situations. You get a wave of people oppressing you when you’re trying to get your points across.”
Another former England striker, Gary Lineker, used Twitter to call the FA hearing “damning and damaging for the FA with a total vindication of @EniAlu”.
Trevor Sinclair, the former England midfielder, wrote: “Very disappointing but inevitable result for the @FA regarding racism. Accountability & action paramount for any positives to be rescued”