The family of one the five players named by ex-Norwich Sporting Director Stuart Webber - who claimed the quintet would be in jail but for football - is considering legal advice.
Raheem Sterling, Max Aarons, Jamal Lewis, Abu Kamara and Jonny Rowe remain shocked and angry at the remarks, carried in a wide-ranging discussion in an East Anglian Sports publication.
Mirror Sport understands family members of at least one player fear the slur on their reputations could frame them negatively in the eyes of clubs that might be interested in them in the future. Legal advice is being looked at to establish their position.
Speaking ahead of his attempt to climb Mount Everest for charity next month, Webber told The Pink Un : “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.”
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Webber is raising money and awareness for the Summit Foundation, a charity he founded with his wife. The charity says on its website it "aims to create awareness and opportunities for young people to help them achieve their potential".
Aarons, Lewis, Kamara and Rowe came through at Norwich during Webber’s six-year spell at the club. Sterling moved to Liverpool while Webber was head of recruitment there. Rowe, 20, is a winger currently still at Carrow Road.
He has scored 13 goals this season. 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.
Abu Kamara has hit back at Webber (PA Wire/PA Images)Kamara, 20, is a striker who came through the Norwich youth academy he joined aged 10. He is currently on loan at Portsmouth where his six goals have helped the League Two leaders maintain their promotion push.
In a statement he said: “My family and I are deeply saddened and shocked by the comments made by Stuart Webber in a recent press article. I want to say to all the black and ethnic minority children that you don’t have to be a professional athlete to avoid living a life of crime and it is important that younger audiences are not left with this false narrative.
“I am proud of where I come from and acknowledge the sacrifices my family have made in order for me to have a career in football. However, these remarks are a sign that there is still a long way to go to be treated equally.
“You can be whatever you want to be as long as you work hard, believe in yourself, and be consistent in what you do.” Aarons' mother wrote on Twitter on Saturday: “I'm shocked at Stuart Webbers [sic] casual racism and blatant disrespect for all these black players and their families.
Raheem Sterling was among the players named by Webber (Getty Images)“As @maxaarons2 mum and a good friend of @Jamal_lewis1 mum @catrina_lewis12 I know there [is] not a chance any of those boys now would have been in jail.” Webber, 39, has declined to comment.
He called some of the parents of the players he’d insulted on Saturday and fired off a string of voice notes to others. In them he apologised for the offence his words had caused. He went on to claim his comments had been “completely taken out of context” by the media.
An apparent audio of his words then appeared online providing even further context to the extensive interview which remained freely available. The Pink Un also tweeted to say that it did not endorse Webber’s comments.
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It said: “Jonny, Abu, Max, Jamal and Raheem are fantastic role models and a credit to themselves, their profession and their families. There is no place in our society for discrimination in any form. The Pink Un does not endorse such views.”
Webber has previously come under fire for comments about women's football and a section of Norwich supporters (PA)It is not the first time Webber has come under fire for remarks he has made publicly. In an interview with The Athletic last May, he came under fire for describing the quality of the women’s game as “really poor”. He also stated women’s football was “of zero interest to me”.
That same month, he also told BBC Radio Norfolk that he would not be forced out of the club by his critics. Referring to a section of the stands, he said: “I’d never move on because of - without being rude - a few divorcees in a snake pit abusing me.”
Webber was a director of recruitment at Liverpool between 2009 and 2012 before becoming head of scouting at QPR that year. He went on to become head of scouting at Wolves and Director of Football attention at Huddersfield before moving to Norwich as Sporting Director in 2017.
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