Henry's African Revelation Has Hit West Ham's Reputation Hard

The scandal is the latest in a long line of things that ‘could only happen to us’

- James Jones

While the entire West Ham fan base was going into its biggest transfer window meltdown since the last big transfer meltdown last summer, a story capable of pushing even the most laid back fans over the edge was bubbling under the surface.

It’s Deadline Day in January, we’re all on the edge of our seats waiting for absolutely nothing to happen and we all learn that our Head of Recruitment, Tony Henry, has admitted in an email that he tries to avoid signing African players because ‘they cause mayhem’.

‘Why can’t we just be a normal football club’ was the first thought that ran through my mind when the story broke, as I’m sure it did for many other fans around the world.

If it’s not David Sullivan publically disrespecting our playing staff, or Karren Brady saying something absolutely ridiculous in her weekly newspaper column, it’s our Head of Recruitment disrespecting playing staff and saying something absolutely ridiculous all in the same breath.

In fairness, the club acted quickly to sack Henry and then David

Sullivan said in an interview that there are plans to completely revamp the club’s recruitment process from top to bottom, but there is some significant damage that may have been done already here.

Henry’s comments led to him being labelled a racist and while I understand the reasons behind those allegations, I’m not convinced that what he said was particularly racially motivated.