Bernardo Silva And His Tweeting Controversy

Bernardo! Silva! And His Tweeting Controversy

One of the things which has characterised Manchester City and their in house TV productions over the last couple of years has been the relationship evident between Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy. Of course we knew when they both joined they had previously played together at Monaco, indeed played for Monaco against City and knocked us out of the Champions League!

What we did not know is that they had a close relationship built seemingly on gentle humour and increasingly complex practical jokes. They behaved like brothers.

Somehow this week they have both become embroiled in a social media furore arising from a since deleted tweet by Bernardo which seemed to be poking fun at his friend Benjamin Mendy by likening him to a cartoon character on a sweet packet sold throughout Iberia. The furore arises though because of the suggestion the humour is derived from the use of a racial stereotype depicted in the cartoon character.

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At the time Mendy did not seem to be offended and instead replied with customary humour but others found the tweet racist and complained. We have now reached the point where the charity Kick It Out has intervened and effectively labelled Bernardo a racist publicly and called for the FA to act. Indeed, the FA has now written to Manchester City asking for comments and there is a very real suggestion Bernardo could face a ban for his behaviour.

The whole saga has now grown exponentially as Guardiola found himself being in the position of having to defend his players in his press conference. Clearly, there are a host of complex issues at play here and the cultural context of those issues is of critical importance. I am not going to dwell on the tweet because there will be a lengthy investigation to come and it was clearly unwise.

The saga has though thrown up a number of wider issues for me too.

The role of Kick it Out seems strange because in acting as the accuser so publicly it is hard to see how the subsequent investigation can be fair and impartial? It would have been wiser if they had flagged the issue but in seeking to make capital out of it, they appear compromised, and consequently it is difficult to imagine any modicum of a fair hearing for Bernardo.

I suspect it will mean the end of players taking responsibility for their own media postings. Having that authenticity, where the tweets are not composed by the club’s social media managers, is I think ultimately important to having that relationship with the players and fans. Being confronted with a series of anodyne posts does little to build fan interest.

Finally I have to question the role of the Club press department who seem to have been on the back foot throughout, leaving the impression that the first team manager, Pep Guardiola, is having to face the issue alone in what is his third choice language. That alone means that the cultural complexity I referred to earlier is difficult to draw out.

It is my view the club could have got in front of the story at the beginning by contextualising the tweet and having some contrition evident – for all of us have to learn everyday and to do our best – and demonstrating a learning environment with regards to race and the associated issues would have left a positive rather than negative story.

As part of this I do not believe the club press officer should have let Guardiola answer those questions at the press conference and he should have been protected. Almost anything he could have said in those circumstances would be akin to digging a deeper hole.

Notwithstanding my criticism of the way the saga has been handled by the Club, who clearly seem to be wrong footed, there are important debates to be had here in the aftermath. About who has the right to be offended and whether all offending is equal. There is also a discussion about whether players have a role to be better than the rest of us and held to a higher level of account because of their very real duty to deliver what should be a real equal opportunity product – sport.

It seems strange therefore at this time then that it is the intervention of ex Liverpool player John Barnes in the debate which is quietening the furore. Whether you agree with him or not, he is speaking intelligently about a complex issue and unusually in a world driven by 30 second sound bites, his comments are receiving some traction.

The important thing for all of us as City fans, and indeed as football fans and even as people, to consider is that our beliefs and attitudes around race and humanity are shaped by our experiences and education. The way in which we learn about the world is relevant to our circumstances and is different for different people. All of our viewpoints are relevant and it is important to be kind in all of our interactions.

Bernardo will be feeling terrible I am sure and may well need some support in the weeks to come, because the one thing which is clear is that this issue will continue to run.