Diversity of Burnley's squad

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redcafe_reader

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No I'm not. Don't even know how you arrived at that through my post.
Then why didn't you mention any positive attribute about mental and intellect, but only mention physical and natural trait?

And according to this very thread, it's not just me. A racist stereotype is racist.
 

FootballHQ

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[QUOTE="Zlatattack, post: 26296728, member: 107397"
It's probably more to do with Burnley as a place. Poor predominantly white Northern town. Not sure how many black players would be interested in going there.

Also Dyche might predominantly want British players. Burnley are defensive and a physical side. It'd suit him to sign someone from the Championship than the continent as they're more likely to play his hoofball.
[/QUOTE]

Oh Burnley isn't great at all, very run down even by Nothern England standards....(sorry another stereotype for this thread....:lol:) but worth remembering Blackburn and Bolton had multi national squads in their premier league days and those town centres are pretty deprived. Wigan is slightly better and they had plenty of South American players of course under Bruce and Martinez.

Burnley's only a 50 minute bus ride from Manchester aswell so any foreign signing could just live there instead as pretty easy commute.
 

Lynty

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Not that it means anything but just to add, from experience. I went to a boarding school located in rural Zimbabwe and every first term we would have inters-chools district competition with rural schools from the area, they would win all the long distance events and we would ace the sprint ones.

I think it was because their stamina was developed from walking/running long distances and toiling in the fields, nothing to do with genetics because we were the same race and from the same country but just grew up differently.
It happens in the UK as well.

A 5-a-side team of youths raised in inner city Birmingham would likely destroy a 5-a-side team raised in Alderley Edge, regardless of race.

It just so happens that 99.9% of black youths are raised in urban environments where football rules and they have limited access to other sports (tennis, cricket, rugby, swimming etc.)

There was no variation for me, football in the street everyday from the age of 12.
 

Robbie Boy

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Diversity problems at Liverpool too: They have a squad of annoying pricks. Where's their quota of un-annoying pricks :rolleyes:
 

Okey

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Asides that Russian club (there may be more than one) where they openly disapprove of their club signing black players, or any club that bans a certain race from their squad (I doubt any exists in recognised leagues - even Athletic Bilbao doesn't discriminate against race); why does anyone look at a football team and think about the ethnicity/race of the players???
 

El Jefe

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This is exactly what I said: yes, lots of black top sporters (although only in specific disciplines), but top sporters only represent a tiny fraction of humanity and are statistically insignificant as a sample group. What is actually significant, is scientific research into the links between race and genetics, and that has conclusively demonstrated, as those links explain (did you even open them?), that race has no genetic implications beyond the skin. So why so many black top runners? See @Lynty 's post below. (I.e., blame society.)

And yes, this has been done in other threads as well, and always led to this same conclusion when someone bothered to check the science. So I'll leave it at this, thanks.
I only read the link on black power as that's the one that specifically references athleticism of some sort. There are so many things wrong with that article but as you said I'll leave it at that.

Even if we say its not representative of the wider population, it is the case in top level sports. The Premier league is top level sports so the question posed about Burnley's squad is still valid.
Then why didn't you mention any positive attribute about mental and intellect, but only mention physical and natural trait?

And according to this very thread, it's not just me. A racist stereotype is racist.
Did you miss the part where I said this or did you just stop reading once you saw the word "black"?

"Most teams also have French or Spanish players as they produce the best footballers in Europe along with Germany. There are also a lot more South American players in the PL because frankly their players are usually a joy to watch and have the extra skill and flair needed in teams.

I find it quite odd that Burnley wouldn't want some of these qualities in their team."
 

Cheimoon

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I only read the link on black power as that's the one that specifically references athleticism of some sort. There are so many things wrong with that article but as you said I'll leave it at that.
Name one thing, then.

Edit: I agree that it doesn't change the Burnley point btw.
 
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POF

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Never even noticed.

It must be tiring wondering whether everything that happens in the world is due to racism.
 

NotThatSoph

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What a shitfest of a thread.

English team full of predominantly English players? I’m sure you‘ll find many teams on the continent with a similar makeup.

Really not sure what the angle is here?
United also have a lot of English players. Rashford, Greenwood, Lingard, Wan-Bissaka, Tuanzebe, Mengi, Laird etc.
 

OleBoiii

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The most racist team is still Blackburn. The name speaks for itself.
 

Panther

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Quite incredible how football fans have gone from criticising clubs for not having enough British players to claiming racism if they have too many in just 10-15 years.
 

Bondi77

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Surely it is up to Burnley what they want to do in regards of their recruitment policy.
I am sure if a player became available to them and he fitted into their structure and would improve the team then he would be brought into the team regardless of creed or race.
 

redcafe_reader

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Did you miss the part where I said this or did you just stop reading once you saw the word "black"?

"Most teams also have French or Spanish players as they produce the best footballers in Europe along with Germany. There are also a lot more South American players in the PL because frankly their players are usually a joy to watch and have the extra skill and flair needed in teams.

I find it quite odd that Burnley wouldn't want some of these qualities in their team."
I dare you to find a single word about "black" in my post.

It seems you see I talked about the physical and natural trait and your mind automatically jumps to "black". You definitely need to have a word with yourself.

Also, you didn't even attempt to answer my question. That says a lot, to be honest.
 

Tarrou

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I’m pretty sure Dyche has signed and played black players before so that pretty much ends the racism debate

So the reason for the statistical anomaly is likely just variance and nothing more. With 80+ pro clubs there are bound to be some that are far less diverse than others. Just like if you ask 80 people to flip a coin 5 times some might land on heads each time
 

Jam

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OP is a total car crash; as are many posts in the thread to be totally honest.

However it is a totally legitimate conversation that needs to be had sometimes. I too arrived at the conclusion that there isn’t any viable evidence showing Burnley as racist, and it is down to a number of different factors but that doesn’t make the base premise of the thread ridiculous.

Their recruitment doesn’t target white, but rather the factors they target usually lead to white British players. The squad make up is a result of their recruitment process, finances and club location.

Yeah they’re very white, and that isn’t great but on its own it isn’t racist. BAME in general are over represented at the top playing level in England (which is good, and shames many other sectors), so it doesn’t surprise me that there are some exceptions to that.
 

VorZakone

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OP is a total car crash; as are many posts in the thread to be totally honest.

However it is a totally legitimate conversation that needs to be had sometimes. I too arrived at the conclusion that there isn’t any viable evidence showing Burnley as racist, and it is down to a number of different factors but that doesn’t make the base premise of the thread ridiculous.

Their recruitment doesn’t target white, but rather the factors they target usually lead to white British players. The squad make up is a result of their recruitment process, finances and club location.

Yeah they’re very white, and that isn’t great but on its own it isn’t racist. BAME in general are over represented at the top playing level in England (which is good, and shames many other sectors), so it doesn’t surprise me that there are some exceptions to that.
And you determined this how...?
 

Jam

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And you determined this how...?
I mean, was the post too long for you? Or have you read any other posts in the thread?

But let me elaborate for you.

They have a black player in the squad who regularly plays for them. They’ve had numerous black players over the last few years under Dyche. Their youth set up also has numerous BAME players amongst the ranks.

The players were absolutely appalled by the fans actions with that plane message.

Now how did they end up with the current first team set up? Well it’s obvious Dyche prefers a strong British core to his squads, players with similar upbringings and footballing philosophies. That is regardless of ethnicity. While black makes up 30% of the premier league players, it’s still only 3% of the UK population which means that it is disproportionate at the top level because of international players of colour. Dyche definitely has a preference for British players, and their budget and scouting mainly extends to just British (but not entirely). The lower down the leagues you go more generally the less ethnically diverse the teams are. The footballing, and non-footballing qualities Dyche knows well and prefers to work with isn’t expansive.

Now you could turn round and say “but then you’ve made it sound like he’s xenophobic instead of racist!” - well not really because a lot of the points above are universal, he routinely uses foreign nationals in his teams and squads.

Hope that clears it up slightly for you. But now I ask you, why do you think Burnley football club is a racist institution?
 

SeaCarrot

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Classic racist thread.
I’m sure OP will post a similar thread for all the 80/90% black teams on the continent in nations that are predominate white too.
Why does diversity only ever go one way?

Do we need to get a clipboard out each gameweek and tick off players as they come out the tunnel and reject a team if they don't match demographics that day? Any given day there could be 6 or 7 BAME players in the United matchday 11, is that racist since the UK population is considered '56%' white?

Or maybe we should just play footballers and not look at skin colour as some determining factor, especially in a area like top level football where the lowest paid player is better off than 95% of the populace and not exactly oppressed. Get your race glasses off and focus on the individual.
 
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LoneStar

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So because there is no diversity in the squad, they must hire/bring in black/brown/Asian players? And why do you classify all black people as ‘athletic’? Does that mean that other races are not athletic ?

Stop talking shit when there’s nothing to back it up.
 

Gandalf Greyhame

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While it is indeed curious how their squad is so predominantly white, I don't think any of the qualities mentioned in the OP are lacking.

Dwight McNeil is full of flair, Jay Rodriguez and Jack Cork are technical, their center backs are athletic and Nick Pope is more agile than most keepers in the league.
 

Haddock

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Look at them thick legs, something fishy is going on. Is Grealish coaching them?
Burnley is secretly a club with a fetish for R Crumb women? :lol:
I know you're not a fan of my OP but you've actually provided reasons as to why Burnley's squad is the way it is. That was the sole intention of the OP.

In response to your post though, mangers such as Moyes, Allardyce and Pulis pretty much have the same philosophy as Dyche. They still had a heavy international presence in their team so its possible to get these qualities outside the British Isles.

I do agree with the finance aspect though, they hardly spend much compared to most clubs so that is a barrier I guess.
I will always try and engage with the question posed even if I think it's not a particularly interesting one. It's actually more impressive how Alex Ferguson managed to avoid signing any Germans or Italians given how many top players come from those countries. Or how there are exactly two players of British Asian descent in the Premier League (Neil Taylor, Hamza Chaudhuri).

I'm not saying you can't find foreign players with the style Dyche wants (Fellaini and Cahill come to mind) but the managers you have listed managed bigger clubs. Everton are one of England's most successful clubs, West Ham are a big London club with a notorious reputation for signing expensive foreign wasters. Even Stoke had a reputation for spending money in the mid 2010s.

Burnley have clearly found that you can get good value for domestic players. Why sign Joselu who offers nothing when you can sign a player as good as Andre Gray (again, domestic and non white) who speaks the language and understands the league for the same cost? Why sign disastrously overvalued foreign players like Giannelli Imbula when you can sign James Tarkowski (once again, a player with paternal roots in Poland) for a pittance? Even when Burnley spend big Dyche seems to prefer tried and tested players - like Wood or Ben Gibson. Gibson is a collosal flop. Obviously this can't last forever so either they get lucky again or they'll probably go down at the end of the year.

Given it's size, Lancashire is a hotbed of football. At the academy level they also have to compete with Man United and City who hoover up the best talent, including the best black talent. Plus those clubs attract talent from across the UK and the world. If this was Crystal Palace we were talking about, given the racial demographics of Croydon, it would be a more interesting question.
 

1966

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What an absurd thread. Burney isn't an aberration: every other club is. Every other club has a massive overrepresentation of non-white players relative to the general population.
 

hubbuh

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Nail on the head. Those unwashed lefties wanting to give poor people access to healthcare, employment rights, a safety net that ensures children are fed regular meals are obsessed with identity politics. As a straight white Male I find it so annoying that they want to discuss issues like this and convince people that maybe things have been easier for me. It genuinely feels like we are under attack. Cant we just go back to the good old days of talking about the war?
Exactly. We should look to the modern rightists for guidance on race relations. Gawd bless the leaders of the right setting the example. The awesome power of the Boris Johnson, Trump and Bolsonaro trifecta is showing those modern leftists whatfor.
 

RashyForPM

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This happened only a few months back during a Burnley game.

It's a small English town with a large reactionary white population. Shit football team that plays shite football in a shit hole town.
This is ridiculously unfair. Instead of casting aspersions over an entire town, just think that it was one idiot who organised that deplorable banner. This doesn’t make the whole town racist, predominantly white or not. I’m sure they’re not too fond of the guy who flew this plane for disgracing them too. Remember, Mee and Dyche came out after a 5-0 loss and slammed it right away. It’s a working class football team in a working class town.

Also, shit football yes, but shit football team? One of the best teams in England they are considering there are thousands and they are in the top 15. They play in one of the two best leagues in the world as well. I’m sorry but you have to stop chatting out of your arse.
What an absurd thread. Burney isn't an aberration: every other club is. Every other club has a massive overrepresentation of non-white players relative to the general population.
This post is appalling too, albeit opposite to the above poster’s POV. You’re undeniably making the point that every club bar Burnley is an aberration for having too many black or yellow players. Excuse me?

If you had your way, world class players like Pogba, Son, Kante etc would still be playing in France, Italy, Germany, Korea etc. That would lessen the quality in this league tenfold, while making it racist.
 

hubbuh

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Nobody, or at least, not the OP called Burnley racist. I have no idea why people are ignoring that fact, and choosing an argument that they have decided they would like to have, and having it regardless.

From what I read, it was just a presentation of facts for an open discussion. All this ‘well Dwight McNeil plays for them so what you say now?’ is strawman and aside from any point being made. Nobody has said blacks are banned from Burnley football club, or accused Sean Dyche of being racist. But the composition of their squad is what it is, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have a conversation as to how it has ended up as it has. Some people have made valid suggestions, like economic limitations, attractiveness of the club/town to a certain profile of person/player. Ultimately, given the numbers, I don’t see it unreasonable to just explore it.
Apparently even asking the question gets opinions like the one below.
People hate white people in 2020.
 
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