If you tell a lie enough times then people will start believing it as gospel. You know, stuff like ‘He’s not that sort of player’ or ‘Actually it’s about ethics in games journalism.’

The football world is replete with this sort of thing. First there’s The Guardian‘s presentation of Luis Suárez’s interview with Simon Hattenstone. In this case the Uruguayan is said to respond to “accusations” that he racially abused Patrice Evra, despite Suárez having admitted to the offence (before apologising, and subsequently withdrawing said apology) and serving a ban after being found guilty of racially abusing the Manchester United player. When a publication like The Guardian, whose football (and news) coverage carries a certain weight with a not-insubstantial number of people, presents new ‘truths’ in this way, there is a real danger of the facts being whitewashed from ‘official’ accounts further down the line.

For an even more recent example of unreliable authors advancing new realities, we go to last week in France, and former French international, now Bordeaux coach, Willy Sagnol’s comments about African footballers. In the midst of an apparent frustration about losing squad members to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, Sagnol said:

The advantage of African players is that they are cheap, ready to fight, powerful on the pitch. But football is not only about that. It’s also about technique, intelligence, and discipline. You need to have it all.

Then, a couple of days later, Sagnol issued a ‘clarification,’ which, far from distancing him from the stereotyping of his earlier comments, merely exacerbated the situation:

Given that we were talking about football, the intelligence I mentioned was obviously tactical intelligence. In no way was I talking about intelligence in the literal sense of the word, concerning individuals.

Considering the decision to retain questions of intelligence – albeit tactical or ‘footballing’ intelligence – in his clarifications, Sagnol’s opinions can certainly be considered problematic, and it is difficult to argue that allegations of racial prejudice are without merit. And that leaves aside the idea that there is any reason for a player from Nigeria to share such broad characteristics as one from Morocco, or a Zimbabwean to be comparable to a Malian.

Sagnol’s words call to mind comments made by former Crystal Palace chairman Ron Noades in 1991:

The black players at this club lend the side a lot of skill and flair, but you also need white players in there to balance things up and give the team some brains and some common sense.

Admittedly the ‘skill and flair’ angle differs from Sagnol’s outlook, and indeed responses to the latter have frequently seen opponents bring up names such as Jay-Jay Okocha or George Weah, African players whose technique and intelligence are a far cry from the “…ready to fight, powerful on the pitch…” model. However the difference lies only in specifics, not the argument as a whole, and the insulting suggestion that African players can only do one thing at once – while those from elsewhere in the world have the potential to be multifaceted – is sadly not an opinion exclusive to Sagnol.

As an aside, for those who wish to argue one set of comments was about black players and the other specifically about Africans, the rhetoric employed by Sagnol has enough in common with racist tropes dating back to long before the globalisation of football that it is impossible to ignore one when discussing the other.

One place in which this stereotyping is most evident is in the case of Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré. Burdened by the ‘new Vieira’ tag which seems to afflict any black, Francophone midfielder who has the temerity to be linked with the Premier League (while remaining insulting to Vieira himself by diluting his ability to the physical), Touré’s arrival in the Premier League was greeted by the following missive from Daily Mirror journalist Brian Reade:

Touré is not actually that great. He’s not a creative genius who will get backsides off seats but a defensive midfielder who stops players who can.

Of course hindsight is 20/20, but while the extent of Touré’s impact in the attacking third for City might have exceeded expectations, Reade was wrong to dismiss the Ivorian as a mere stopper. Such an approach did a disservice to his impact at previous clubs, while also being wilfully ignorant of the fact that a holding midfielder at Rijkaard’s or Guardiola’s Barcelona was a far more technical role than at many other European clubs of the period.

Another African player to have been similarly pigeonholed within English football is Mikel John Obi. While the Nigerian has never been a prolific goalscorer at any level, it was in an advanced playmaker role that he made the breakthrough as a youth international, and for many years has continued to impress in the same position for the Super Eagles. All the while, at club level the 27-year-old has been used as a midfield anchor by numerous Chelsea managers in close to a decade with the club.

Both offer examples of African footballers demonstrating adaptability across more than one role, as well as an ability to ally physical power with technical skill, yet the more we hear comments like Sagnol’s, the more we run the risk of people ignoring the evidence, as with Suárez, and sticking to the received wisdom of someone who garners respect for their opinion across other fields to the extent that they have carte blanche to impart their own prejudices on others when it comes to areas where they have less experience.

As a Champions League winner with more than 50 caps for France, Sagnol is an individual whose outlook will hold sway with the same sort of crowd that criticises opposing opinions on the basis that the opinion-holder ‘has never played the game’. But to accept a statement on the basis of the credentials of the person saying it, rather than the words being said, is hugely dangerous.

To a point, it is refreshing to see the former Bayern defender feeling the need to issue a ‘clarification’ in the light of criticism of his original comments. However we need to look further to determine how widespread such stereotyping is, particularly when said clarification does nothing to give observers cause to dismiss suggestions of prejudice.

How many other coaches in Europe’s top divisions already shared Sagnol’s attitudes, and how many will have heard his comments and been moved to agree with him? Without proper accountability, even when coming with those who have a not-insignificant standing within the game, the problem is only likely to grow.