Occam's Razor. The recent climate might be the reason why ESPN didn't cover it: too many other race-related issues to address.. A fallen giant slumming it in Germany's D2 for a third season poaches the country's first black coach is relevant to German sports fans but I can't see how American fans would see its relevance and certainly not its priority.
Also ESPNFC doesn't have any substantive analysis or storywriting with respect to Germany. They have some token recurring guests on the video segment who pop in to provide some soundbites on Haaland or Sancho or another flavor of the week (basically to sate United fans) but that's about it. Honigstein does some good regular features on The Athletic though, plus a weekly-ish podcast. On Thioune: https://amp.dw.com/en/daniel-thioun...-coach-in-the-countrys-top-leagues/a-47261803
well they had some articles on the role and lack of Black managers across the English pro divisions so this might have been worth mentioning. Even if he doesn't see himself as such, he'd be a role model by some.
Other possible explanations: He's the first black German coach in the BL/3 Liga system, not the first Black coach - Valentin Ismael coached Nurnberg in 2014 and Wolfburg in 2017-18, and Ricardo Moniz was caretaker at HSV and then coached 1860. First Black coach might be mentionable news for non-German football fans, even in an abnormal news season, but first black German (-born) coach would be a bit niche for many. In addition, Thioune isn't obviously a non-German or even non-European family name, and his background as a Germany-only D2-D3 player and coach would lead an under-time-pressure journalist to assume that he's a conventional worked-his-way up story, which is true, with nothing unusual about him, which isn't. Plus, looking at some of his head-on photos you wouldn't immediately think "Oh, he's Black". Also, if Bobby was scoring or even getting PT, they'd have been paying attention to HSV and picked up on it. There's no (good) news from him to cover, so they might have missed the guy's race. If they didn't, it's an editorial "we're gonna give Wood news 60 seconds so let's not take up 10-20 seconds of it on the German minor leagues reaching a milestone."
Maybe, but the Guardian probably takes football the most seriously out of all England's broadsheets (a lot of ESPN's written content bears an, ahem, "passing resemblance" to the last week's Guardian articles) and definitely takes race the most seriously, to the point that they could be described as trending woke. They haven't mentioned it in any way at all. I'm a dedicated reader of the Guardian, but I'm not really surprised. If HSV were in BL1, I'd expect some mention of it, but they're in BL2 now. If the Guardian aren't interested, IMO it's not that surprising that ESPN aren't.
Some enterprising young pup is going to steal your pitch and win a pulitzer Lou! (I agree, in a month when soccer - and sports teams - the world over are literally printing BLM on their shirts, you'd think Hamburg PR would pitch this story - it's about all the good news they got going on!)
this sure got reported fair point, here's this for similar groundbreaking news https://www.goal.com/en/news/its-un...-african-manager-to/232zsmeowo3d1mt7n7ilpfu9w
Last word I hope (forlornly I'm sure) on the coach. He's got a great track record at Osnabruck, (take over in October as the team slips into relegation and steer them to safety; win the 3 Liga next season and then keep them up last season) but managing a small club where you've been part of the furniture is one thing, managing a behemoth like HSV is another and doubly so after a decade of dysfunction. Let's wish him - and Bobby - luck. He'll need it. Badly.
On the bench for a friendly: 📌 On the bench are: Mickel, Ewerton, Narey, Dudziak, Wood, Hinterseer, Amaechi, Wintzheimer, Onana, Opoku, Fabisch, Hein— HSV English (@HSV_English) August 26, 2020
76' ⏱ Erneuter Doppelwechsel 🔄➡ Wood, Opoku |⬅ Gjasula, Vagnoman |___#HSVVfB 2:3#nurderHSV#HeldenCup— Hamburger SV (@HSV) August 26, 2020
On the bench for a friendly: 📌 On the bench are: Mickel, Ewerton, Wood, Hinterseer, Amaechi, Jatta, Jung, Opoku, Fabisch, Hein— HSV English (@HSV_English) August 28, 2020
Hamburg won 1-0, and it looks like Wood got 28 minutes off the bench today. I'm liking this growth trend.
On the bench: 📌 On the bench are: Mickel, Pollersbeck, Oppermann, Ewerton, Kinsombi, Wood, Amaechi, Jatta, Onana, Opoku, David, Fabisch, Hein— HSV English (@HSV_English) September 5, 2020
Not to worry. Since the BL has decided to continue with 5 subs per game for 2020-21, Bobby is sure to get PT this season. Isn't he?
Accidentally!!! Of course!! That's the solution!!! Just tell him to target the corner flag when he shoots and he'll be the next Aguerro.