CHRIS RAMSEY APPLAUDS TONY FERNANDES AND LES FERDINAND

BY AYODELE ODUMADE   

Chris Ramsey and Ayodele Odumade of Mafisports Media

Chris Ramsey has applauded Tony Fernandes for believing in him and appointing him as the New Manager of Queens Park Rangers until the end of the season. He also acknowledged the director of football Les Ferdinand who was also instrumental to his appointment by recommending him to the QPR owner.  Ramsey was speaking at his first press conference since his appointment said:

“Tony has a big heart and would do what he feels is best for QPR.  I do not think he has given me the job based on one  result.” When pressed further about how the QPR owner manages to balance all his areas of interests he said: “Tony is a remarkable person. Because to go through what he has been through, I do not even want to think about it. He understands that he has an obligation to continue the project here but don’t think for one moment he is not fully immersed in the tragedy that happened there (Malaysia). All I can say is that he manages his time appropriately to make sure that he gets what they need. “

On Ferdinand he said: ”Les brought me here. He has shown a lot of faith in me by presenting me to the owners.”  Ramsey and Les Ferdinand both worked as coaches under Tim Sherwood who is now the Aston Villa Manager.

QPR’s appointment of Ramsey as manager was a historical moment in English football as QPR have an Asian owner, black director of football as well as a black manager. Ramsey is currently the only black manager in the English Premier League.  He was asked if QPR’s bold decision would now lead to other clubs giving black managers an opportunity. He said: “A few months ago we were at the House of Parliament talking about governance in football.  One of the things about boards is that some of them are not very diverse. If they are not diverse you are always going to get what happens. It is important that there is good governance and diversity on the boards, not only of colour and culture but also in gender. That is important as well. We need a holistic view of the game from all.  So everybody gets a chance.  

When he was asked if a female manage could become a coach one day in England she said. So why shouldn’t there be a female coach? If you are a coach and you have abilities, it should not matter what country you come from or what part of the country you come from.  It should not matter what your gender is. You should just be there on merit. You shouldn’t be there on tokenism though because that in itself is patronizing. We have to make sure that there is an awareness that there are people who are not obvious coaches. “

Ramsey was asked about the Chelsea fans that prevented a black Frenchman from boarding the train in Paris recently and he said:

“I do not believe they are Chelsea fans. I do not believe they are fans of football.  I believe they are acting in a manner that we all know that we are thinking that it is a thing of the past.  If you have got people with views like that, they are intrinsic in everyday life. It would be good to see what the authorities are going to do in order to either weed these people out and what sanctions they are going to enforce to make this an avoidable situation in the future.  We all know Chelsea is a massive club and very multi-cultural club. They do a lot of good things in the community and I feel sorry they have been tarnished with this situation.  You cannot control what people do in their personal lives.  As much as it is something that has happened in football I have been saying for a long time these are really social issues that really manifest themselves in a football world.”