Referring to the recent war of (naughty) words involving John Terry vs Anton Ferdinand and Luis Suarez vs Patrice Evra, Ferguson said, "There have been a couple of examples recently, which is not good. In 2012, you can't believe it. It was obvious maybe 20 years ago and the improvements have been for everyone to see."
Ferguson's comments echoed those spoken by Alan Hansen in December, when the Match of the Day pundit said, "Twenty-five, thirty years ago, it was probably in a bad way, not as bad as some of the nations on the Continent, but certainly there's always room for improvement."
Hansen had just been asked if he thought racism was rife in English football, to which he replied, live on air, "No it's not. If you played twenty-five… I think it's better, not only with the players, but with the supporters. I think there's a lot of coloured players in all the teams, all the major teams, and there's a lot of coloured players that are probably the best in the Premier League."
Whoops.
Obviously the Twittersphere 'did one' - with footballers - black and white - and fans alike all giving their two-penneth worth. Former Spurs player Rohan Ricketts tweeted how Hansen was "part of the problem when using that word."
It's a strange situation we now find ourselves in - Alan Hansen, in the midst of a spiel about how racism is a terrible, terrible thing, foolishly says a politically-incorrect word, and the knives come flying out.
Although to say that Hansen is part of a racism 'problem' is another thing altogether: he didn't use the word in a derogatory way, as Terry did when abusing Ferdinand.
Alan Hansen undoubtedly didn't mean to cause offence - but certainly did - and apologised, saying, "I unreservedly apologise for any offence caused. This was never my intention and I deeply regret the use of the word."
There - are you happy now, Twittersphere? The point is, most civilised people understand what language is acceptable, yet if someone does slip up (especially a person of the older generation... sorry, Alan), more attention should be paid to the context in which the comment is said. These things aren't always black and white... (apologies again).
It is slightly worrying, also, how issues like this can be blown up instantly on websites such as Twitter, with great swathes of sweaty-palmed and self-appointed experts clambering onto ever-more tenuous bandwagons.
The instantaneous of Twitter is brilliant - breaking news stories revealed on the site feel positively prehistoric by the time TV news channels and papers can report them - but perhaps more people should sit back, take a minute, maybe have a cup of tea, before letting their under-ripe and under-nourished thoughts go spilling out across their computer screens.
Now Fabio Capello, who publicly expressed his unhappiness at the FA's decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy - which happened, remember, because Terry racially abused Anton Ferdinand - has quit as England manager.
Job Update:
Unfortunately I'm still unemployed, and have been applying to as many relevant jobs as possible. Today I attended my first scheduled interview at the Jobcentre. I was asked for my form detailing the jobs I've applied for - you have to take three 'steps' to finding a job every fortnight (basically, you have to apply to three jobs in 14 days) - so I proudly showed my record of jobs I've applied for, which I've updated since December, long before I applied for Jobseeker's Allowance. The chap glanced at it, asked me to sign something, then said we were done. I was in there five minutes. They didn't even look at my CV. Completely pointless. I very much hope the Jobcentre bucks its ideas up for my next appointment in two weeks.
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