John Barnes has drawn a parallel with the situation surrounding the murder of George Floyd, and the struggle from football fans to reclaim clubs who 'exploit' them.
Barnes appeared after FSG and Liverpool owner John W Henry apologised to Liverpool fans for his conduct in joining the ill-fated Super League.
John Barnes on George Floyd
“The fans can believe that they won on this occasion, but nothing changes for the fans,” Barnes told TalkSport..
“Five years later, something else will happen and we’ll use the fans to start this revolution because the elite groups don’t want things to change, they want the status quo to stay the same and we say, ‘Yes – this is for the working classes!’
“We do this as black people, we talk about George Floyd, we talk about inner-city schools – and an elite group of people get more, but nothing changes for the black community. But we say it is in their name.
“This has been going on for a thousand years, where we try to convince the working classes, the masses, the average woman, the average gay, the average black person, that it’s on your behalf and it’s for you.
“An elite group of people get better lives, but nothing changes for them.”
Liverpool
As for Henry's apology, Barnes will wait and see what the result is for the club and its fans.
“How meaningful it is, we don’t really know. But I tend not to listen to too much noise over the past two days and try to analyse what has been happening.
“What’s happening is there’s been a power struggle between elite groups who control football and exploit the fans, that is all it was.
“It’s just a question of who’s going to exploit them. Now that the ESL is not going to exploit them, it will be the same old guard – FIFA, UEFA, the Premier League, and the big clubs.
“All of those Chelsea fans outside the ground, how many of them do you think can get tickets for the game? How many can afford the £150 shirts? How many can afford their Sky subscriptions?
“So it’s still about exploitation of the fans. It’s just a question of who can exploit them. It will be the same old faces.
“The status quo is exactly the same. This, in my opinion, was a ploy from the big clubs to get more money from UEFA.
“This started in 1992, when an elite group of five clubs wanted to pull away and enticed the other 15 to pull away from the Football League, because they wanted more money for themselves.
“That’s why the Premier League started. In 1992, football sold out.”
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
