West Brom fans unfurled a banner in their 1-0 win over Brentford at Griffin Park on Saturday, which appeared to be hitting back at talkSPORT host Adrian Durham for his claims about Darren Moore’s sacking last week.
Moore was relieved of his duties at The Hawthorns after the 1-1 draw with Ipswich last Saturday, which led to Durham going on a massive rant on radio where he claimed the club never actually wanted to appoint him as manager.
Durham suggested that “unconscious racism” could have been behind the reason why Moore was axed, which led to major outrage by West Brom supporters, who pride themselves on their club’s history of dealing with racism.
BBC WM Sport’s official Twitter account uploaded an image of the banner on Saturday, which had the image of the Three Degrees, as well as the words: “This club looks at the badge on the chest, not the colour of the skin.”
#WBA #Baggies @WBA Fans have their say ?@BrentfordFC? pic.twitter.com/YrnNAfGuwP
— BBC Radio WM Sport (@sportbbcwm) March 16, 2019
Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson were known as Three Degrees during their time at West Brom in the last 1970s when racism was rife in English football.
OPINION
You cannot blame the West Brom fans for feeling angry about Durham’s comments. There are good enough reasons as to why Moore was sacked, even if was not the right decision by the Baggies board. After that draw against Ipswich they had been without a league win at The Hawthorns since Boxing Day and has effectively lost hope of finishing in the automatic spots. Form against other play-off contenders has been poor, so there was no reason to suggest why Albion would be going up with Moore at the helm. Then Durham, in his usual explosive and controversial style, came out and alleged that “unconscious racism” could have been at the heart of the decision because owners only see white managers lifting trophies elsewhere. While it is an issue and needs to be talked about, Durham is way off the mark here, and Albion fans are right to stand by their club.