23 March 2024 , 19:45
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Former Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber has sparked fury by claiming Raheem Sterling, Max Aarons and three other black players would be in jail had it not been for football.
The shocking remarks by the former Liverpool director of recruitment were made in an interview with a local newspaper ahead of his attempt to climb Mount Everest for charity next month.
Webber is quoted as saying: “We want to help the guys who really need it, not the ones who are maybe privileged. I saw that with our young footballers.
"Jonny Rowe wouldn’t mind me saying it but him, Abu Kamara, Max (Aarons), Jamal (Lewis), Raheem (Sterling) back in the day at Liverpool, where they come from it had to work out for them in football, because the alternative is potentially jail or something else.”
Mirror Football understands all of the players named - including Sterling - are deeply offended by the comments, which were still available on the Pink ‘Un website at the time of writing.
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At least one of the players has made contact with Webber directly, requesting he explain himself. Webber responded by speaking to some of the players and their families. It is understood he accepted the gravity of his offensive remarks and apologised for the hurt they had caused.
He has yet to speak to Sterling or any of his family members. The families of some players are understood to be shocked and unhappy with his remarks.
He was at Anfield for three years before becoming head of scouting at QPR in 2012. After spells at Wolves and Huddersfield, he left Norwich last summer following a six-year spell.
Mirror Football understands all of the players named - including Raheem Sterling - are deeply offended by the comments (Getty Images)Rowe, 20, is a winger at Norwich, and right-back Aarons made a £7million move to Bournemouth last August. Lewis, a left-back, is on loan at Watford after leaving Norwich for Newcastle in 2020.
Kamara, 20, is a striker on loan at Portsmouth from Norwich whose youth academy he joined aged 10. Questions are also being asked about how the alleged remarks were allowed to go unchallenged in the interview.
Troy Townsend, Head of Player Development at anti-racism watchdog Kick It Out, said: “Football or jail it is then? An absolute disgrace.”
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