Nedum Onuoha

Former Manchester City, Queens Park Rangers, Real Salt Lake, and England U21 footballer Nedum Onuoha reflects on his time in the game, being a black man growing up in Manchester, racist abuse in football and living in the United States through the Black Lives Matter protests.

Onohua has forthright views about those he played alongside or under, which include some of the biggest names in football Stuart Pearce , Sven-Göran Eriksson, Roberto Mancini and Harry Redknapp. He offers a damning assessment of how football and society have failed the black community and reflects on some of the deeply personal events in his life, including the death of his mother in 2012.

Onohua played as a defender and made his debut for Manchester City at 17. He went on to play 400 professional games in the UK and United States. He was captain of QPR and of the England U21 team. He grew up in a poor part of Manchester after arriving from Nigeria at the age of five with his family. His parents made huge sacrifices to give Onuoha and his sisters a good education and he was unusual among his contemporaries in continuing to study for his A-Levels after his debut. He is now a sought-after pundit for leading broadcasters.