It’s also a vehicle for old men who yell at clouds and don’t even entertain modernising beyond a specific point or ideology. The thing here is identifying the black players Souness has or does reserve praise for; the frequency of said praise and then layer-tracing it over the praise given to white players of the same standing. We can then at least pick out, and discuss, markers and draw a more informed conclusion than with just Pogba alone.
Souness can’t hold Henry in any higher standing; to some, Henry was/is: cocky, arrogant, self-indulgent and host of other things anyone with a racial bone(r) to pick could take offence to, mask their true intentions and then dig the player out for. I don’t really want to use grafters as examples here, rather, high profile, flamboyant, black, flare players who’ve played in the PL as they are what would be perceived as being in need of ‘taking down a peg or two’ by your textbook, generic racist or one with thinly veiled undertones alluding to what they’re really about. The problem here is ‘flamboyance’ simply isn’t something we see much of in the PL - skilful, black players are just as prominent as white ones, but
flamboyant players, how many come to mind when you think specifically about that? It reminds me of those ‘we don’t do that round here’ sketches - old, hard men from bygone eras who would have been cheered for nailing a ‘Fancy Dan’ are hard-wired to find this archetype egregious - if there is a conflation between race and the aforementioned, I think it’s very easy to see how, or where, those lines blur.
Let me expand upon the above Graeme Souness nailed Dwight Yorke at Blackburn, for some intents and purposes, Yorke fits the profile of a highly regarded black flare player; like Pogba, Yorke was an individual: unlike Pogba, Yorke was a playboy with a number of accounts of being a shocking trainer once he ‘made it’ post treble. Did Souness nail him for being black or was it because what Yorke stood for made this archetypal hardman, leader of men, blood and guts midfielder’s blood boil? I’d wager the latter because Souness is so textbook and predictable with his principles.
@Gio listed some Souness skirmishes, not least with the white Craig Bellamy; there are specific traits and perceived personalities Souness will gun for every time, in my opinion. Throw him the carrot and he’s all in - for me Pogba enters the fray here for being a midfielder and someone who Souness could conceptualise going after, in-game. It’s the same to me as the bingo of calling which player(s) Mourinho will make life hell for when joining a new club - it won’t be racial lines over assumed character and personality ‘failings’.
Good post and though I understand where you're coming from, as they say in Brazil: "The hole goes way farther down".
For starters, while I, again, would be loathe to accuse Souness directly as a racist without getting to know the man or at least having a candid conversation with him, the accusation wouldn't surprise me at all. He is a 70 year old Scotsman, and my own life experience means that I wouldn't be shocked to learn that such a man has racial biases.
Indeed, having lived in many, many countries, and encountered racism directly repeatedly and consistently, my mind is trained to pick out patterns and dog whistles that ring alarm bells. You see these patterns in everyone, but in my own experience (which I may add is extensive and varied) old white men absolutely trounce everyone else in manifesting them.
Ask yourself honestly, without accusing anyone specifically, what would a venn diagrama of "old men who yell at clouds and don't entertain modernising" and plain old racists look like?
The other thing I'd point out is more foundational. What does "flamboyance" mean in this context to merit being taken down a peg? Is it on the pitch flamboyance, or off it? If it's on the pitch, I'd argue there are several white British players currently in the premier league as flamboyant as Pogba - Grealish, Madison, Foden, etc... These players immediately come to mind when I think of flamboyance, and these players get much less stick than a player like Pogba.
If it's off the pitch flamboyance, I'd argue that maybe there is something biased about your definition of flamboyance. You (and Souness) may tend to associate what Pogba does with flamboyance (dancing, painting your hair, listening to rap), but remember, there are cultural differences at play. That is the "othering" that I'm speaking of.
For me, it's the most natural thing in the world. I've grown up around colors, spices, rhythm and music. It's just who we are and we do not consider it flamboyance, we consider it life. And thats not even considering the fact that Pogba is a family man who doesn't even drink! If we drop an alien on earth right now who will she think is more "flamboyant" - the man who dies his hair and dances, or the man who gets drunk and is a playboy?
For me, this is symptomatic of the othering I mentioned above. We saw it with foreign players like early Cristiano Ronaldo, and it takes it's most extreme form when we're talking about foreign black players.
Finally, I'd question the need to analyze racial biases to death using an exhaustive list of technical mechanisms. It honestly feels to me like it is an effort to find data point after data point and counter example after counter example to question a phenomenon which is widely accepted and consistently proven to be pervasive and endemic. It's not like there isn't enough evidence of bias (see the danish study - which is as conslusive a study as anyone has ever produced for or against), even if we're talking exclusively about pundits and analysts.
Ofcourse, we can't just accuse everyone willy-nilly, but I've been around the block enough to know that where there's smoke there's fire. I'm glad that your experience hasn't left you with the same precautions - it's not fun!
