Stuart Webber, former Norwich City sporting director, has apologized for comments he made in an interview with a local newspaper against Raheem Sterling and other black players.
Webber, who left the Canaries in November, told PinkUn that without football, Sterling, Max Aarons, and three other black players would face jail time.
The comments were in an article on Webber’s upcoming charity climb of Mount Everest next month.
Webber had said: ‘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.’
The Mirror said that the athletes and their families were enraged, surprised, and highly insulted by the horrific words made in the interview, which was published on Saturday and is still available online as of writing.
According to reports, one of the players contacted Webber immediately and asked an explanation.
Sky Sports reports that Webber apologized to the affected players and their families.
Webber was Liverpool’s director of recruitment from 2009 to 2012, and Sterling joined the club at the age of 15 in 2010.
Webber later worked as head of scouting at QPR and Wolves before becoming Huddersfield Town’s sports director from 2015 to 2017.
The 39-year-old then relocated to Norwich, where he worked for six years before leaving in November.
Webber identified four additional Norwich players, including right back Aarons, who joined Bournemouth for £7 million in August after rising through the ranks at Carrow Road.
Meanwhile, Lewis broke into Norwich’s lineup at the same time before departing to join Newcastle in 2020, and the left back is currently on loan at Watford.
Rowe, a 20-year-old winger, is a key player for Norwich City. Kamara, who joined the club’s youth at the age of 10, is currently on loan at Portsmouth.
PinkUn, a local news outlet, is also apparently under criticism, with doubts raised over how Webber’s statements went unchecked during the interview.
In response, Troy Townsend, who is Head of Player Development at Kick It Out, an anti-racism charity, had said: ‘Racially profiling current and former players. Football or jail is it then? Absolute disgrace!’
There was also furious reaction publicly from family members of the players, with Aarons’ mother, Amber, accusing Webber of ‘casual racism’.
She posted on X: ‘I’m shocked at Stuart Webber’s casual racism and blatant disrespect for all of these black players and their families. As @maxaarons2 mum and a good friend of @jamal_lewis1 mum I know there is not a chance any of those boys, now would have been in jail.’
Lewis’ mum, Catrina, also said: ‘That’s not true at all…. Very unprofessional comment to make!!! How can that assumption be made Stuart???,’ before Aarons’ mother replied: ‘Inherent racism, I can’t think of more professional and level headed people than the players SW has labelled.’
According to The Times, Amber juggled her business work with taking Aarons to training and matches during his academy days, while the player’s father Mike engaged a £70-an-hour skills coach to boost the right back’s development.
Aarons was also a member of Luton’s youth system before leaving to better balance football and his education while doing GCSEs.
Meanwhile, Catrina, Lewis’ mother, has worked on community projects in Belfast and coached her son in athletics when he was younger.
Lewis, who has 34 caps for Northern Ireland, has also started his own mental health foundation and advocated for anti-racism efforts. Three years ago, he joined Gareth Bale, Rio Ferdinand, and Marcus Rashford in a campaign to combat online abuse.
Webber’s comments elicited similar fury from Norwich fans, with some calling them ‘disgraceful’, ‘horrendous’, and’shameful’, while others begged him to ‘apologise for his disgusting racism’.
Webber’s comments on the five players follow controversial remarks he made against women’s football last year.
In May, the 39-year-old admitted to not watching women’s football, despite investing in the sport with the club, who compete in the FA Women’s National League Division One South East.
‘Women’s football, I do not watch it,’ he told The Athletic. ‘It’s of zero interest to me in terms of on the telly because I watch enough men’s football and if I’m not watching that, I want to watch other sports.
Norwich women played their first game at Carrow Road in April, which attracted 7,585 fans when they took on Ashford Town.
Webber added at the time: ‘That was the first women’s game I’ve been to because it’s not an interest to me. I don’t mind admitting that.’