When the football team you are paid to manage starts to go into freefall through the league (having squandered a good start) it would seem sensible to concentrate on the job of putting things right...rather than wading into an issue of controversy about which you don't have all the facts, and appearing to trivialise the issue of racism.
Albion coach Gus Poyet has chosen such a course in the continuing argument over what Luis Suarez said to Patrice Evra a couple of weeks ago. Evra claims it was racist abuse. But according to Poyet, Evra is a "crybaby", who should just shrug it off and get on with the game. This in the same week that similarly dismissive comments from FIFA chief Sepp Blatter have been roundly condemned, most notably by many players who have spoken about how racism in the game has affected them.
Poyet seems to hold the view that abuse by one individual to another is not racist. Quite where he gets this idea from is not clear. It certainly is racist as fas as the law is concerned.
Football in this country has made huge strides in recent years in getting racism out of the game. Making excuses for it now is the last thing we need.
Get on with the job Gus, and listen to what players with real experience of racism are saying.
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