Leroy Rosenior: 'I Seem to Have a Knack of Getting People to Listen'

Leroy Rosenior, after a career as player and manager, is vice-president and ambassador for Show Racism the Red Card. ‘I wanted to get involved on the ground, by going into schools.’
Photograph: Kevin Quigley/ANL/Shutterstock
Leroy Rosenior, after a career as player and manager, is vice-president and ambassador for Show Racism the Red Card. ‘I wanted to get involved on the ground, by going into schools.’ Photograph: Kevin Quigley/ANL/Shutterstock
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Leroy Rosenior: 'I Seem to Have a Knack of Getting People to Listen'

Leroy Rosenior, after a career as player and manager, is vice-president and ambassador for Show Racism the Red Card. ‘I wanted to get involved on the ground, by going into schools.’
Photograph: Kevin Quigley/ANL/Shutterstock
Leroy Rosenior, after a career as player and manager, is vice-president and ambassador for Show Racism the Red Card. ‘I wanted to get involved on the ground, by going into schools.’ Photograph: Kevin Quigley/ANL/Shutterstock

Leroy Rosenior is probably no longer the most recognized member of his family, with his son Liam making his name as a coach alongside Wayne Rooney at Derby and also on the panel to select the Football Association chairman. But after almost four decades in the public eye that took in spells at Fulham, QPR and West Ham in the 1980s, the former striker, who is remembered for having the shortest managerial reign, at Torquay in 2007, is almost ready to pass on the baton to the next generation.

“I’m always proud of Liam but it’s not just about his coaching – he is a good person,” says Rosenior. “He has always wanted to coach and tells the story about staying up and pretending to be asleep while he was listening to me and Paul Mortimer talking all night about football. Liam gets his message across brilliantly and that is the key.”

That trait appears to run in the family. On Wednesday, Show Racism the Red Card celebrates its 25th anniversary after being established when the Newcastle goalkeeper at the time, Shaka Hislop, made a £50 donation to a local anti-racism campaigner Ged Grebby after being racially abused at a petrol station. Rosenior has been giving workshops on behalf of the charity for 16 years and is vice-president and an ambassador.

“I wanted to get involved on the ground, by going into schools, because that is where my passion was,” says Rosenior, who also works as an assistant producer and pundit for Premier League productions. “I seem to have a knack of getting people to listen and then ask questions afterwards. My dad was a great storyteller – he was the best I have ever known – and I work in television as a broadcaster so have all the skills to get a message across to people.”

The experiences of his father, Willie De Graft Rosenior, who arrived in the UK during the 1950s from Sierra Leone, helped shape Rosenior, but one particular moment changed his career path for ever.

“I always tell the story about Justin Fashanu because he was my idol when I was growing up,” he says. “With him it was a double whammy because not only was he black, but he was also gay. He came to West Ham on loan while I was there and I remember one day him getting in the communal bath and two guys got up and walked out. I knew exactly why they had done that.

“Eight or nine years later, when I heard that Justin had killed himself, I thought back to that moment and realized I could have done something if I was educated or had the knowledge to communicate. Maybe if I had I could have said: ‘Sit down, don’t worry he won’t fancy you’ or something and that could have defused the situation, but I didn’t. That was one of the driving forces in me getting involved in diversity and inclusion and trying to pass on a positive message.”

From schools to trade unions and now also as an ambassador for West Ham’s Foundation having previously worked for Kick it Out, Rosenior estimates he has reached thousands of people with his talks. He feels his message is being heard, but episodes such as last Saturday when some Millwall supporters booed players taking a knee shows there is plenty of work to do.

“It frustrates me because we always have these incidents and afterwards everyone just talks about how important education is. But they don’t know how to put that into practice. How does it work? Where do we need to target? For instance, usually the kids get it much better than the adults.”

Rosenior refuses to blame the color of his skin for a lack of opportunities as a manager and has only fond memories of his two spells at Torquay – even if the second lasted for barely 48 hours rather than the 10 minutes often stated.

“It wasn’t until the Friday, when I was watching Have I Got News For You I was described as having the shortest managerial reign of just 10 minutes, that everyone starting ringing me up to ask if I was all right.

“I was already doing work for the BBC, but that led to me being asked to do the Africa Cup of Nations, which is how I started my new career. So when they say any publicity is good publicity, it definitely worked for me.

“At that point, I made a conscious decision to concentrate on broadcasting and working in anti-racism. When we got promoted with Torquay it was the most incredible achievement, but off the back of that I had one interview for the Brighton job and Mark McGhee got it. I was of the understanding that if I did really well then the opportunities would come. But they didn’t. If there was a young manager who was white and had done what I had done then things might have been different.”

Rosenior, who was held at gunpoint in Mali after being sent off while managing Sierra Leone – “they wouldn’t let me go back to the dressing room” – detailed many of his experiences of racism as a player in his book, It’s only Banter, released in 2017. Since moving into broadcasting, he has also noticed a slow shift in attitudes.

“When I started at the Premier League, the only other black people in the building were the cleaners,” he says. “It is a global brand and there was a moment when they realized that their on-screen presence didn’t represent the people they were reaching. Now I know so many black people who are working here and we have made a lot of progress, although that’s still not the same behind the scenes. I try to drive that as much as I can.”

As for Liam, who is tasked with finding a replacement for Greg Clarke at the FA, Rosenior says: “Hopefully it’s a step in the right direction for Liam to be involved because if you have six white middle-aged men who are choosing the next chairman then you will get a decision based around their experiences. But if you have a more diverse selection of people then you are going to get a much better decision. They have to recognize that it’s good for them and not just tokenism.”

(The Guardian)



Liverpool Starts Premier League Title Defense Against Bournemouth While Man Utd Hosts Arsenal 

Liverpool's Egyptian striker #11 Mohamed Salah celebrates with the Premier League trophy at the end of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on May 25, 2025. (AFP)
Liverpool's Egyptian striker #11 Mohamed Salah celebrates with the Premier League trophy at the end of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on May 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Liverpool Starts Premier League Title Defense Against Bournemouth While Man Utd Hosts Arsenal 

Liverpool's Egyptian striker #11 Mohamed Salah celebrates with the Premier League trophy at the end of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on May 25, 2025. (AFP)
Liverpool's Egyptian striker #11 Mohamed Salah celebrates with the Premier League trophy at the end of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on May 25, 2025. (AFP)

Liverpool will begin its latest Premier League title defense at home to Bournemouth on Aug. 15, while Manchester United will host Arsenal in the opening round of next season.

The Premier League released its fixture schedule for the 2025-26 season on Wednesday, giving teams and their fans a chance to start planning less than a month since the last campaign finished.

Liverpool will be bidding for a third league championship in six years, likely with Florian Wirtz in its squad, and will play the first match of the season in a Friday night start at Anfield against a Bournemouth team that finished in ninth place.

It's quite a tough beginning for Arne Slot's champions, with a trip to Newcastle in the second round followed by a home match against Arsenal — another team in the Champions League — a week later.

Arsenal, which finished second for a third straight year last season, heads to Old Trafford for its first game and will play Liverpool, Manchester City and Newcastle in its opening six matches.

Everton bade farewell to its long-time home at Goodison Park at the end of last season and the first game in its state-of-the-art, 53,000-capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock will be against Brighton on Aug. 23.

Thomas Frank’s first Premier League game in charge of Tottenham will be at home to promoted Burnley on Aug 16. That comes three days after Frank's competitive debut with Tottenham, the Europa League champion, against Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup.

Sunderland’s first Premier League game since the 2016-17 season is at home to West Ham, while Leeds hosts Everton first after returning to the top flight following a two-year absence.