Why are there only two black football managers?

[Evening Echo]

HE is a football man making waves in the professional game, but ex-Southend United player Chris Powell is in the minority.

More...

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I think the onus should be on the Black former players themselves. I don't think many of them want to be a Manager. A lot more seem to go for the coaching side.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I think the onus should be on the Black former players themselves. I don't think many of them want to be a Manager. A lot more seem to go for the coaching side.

Do they?

I'm struggling to think of many black coaches. Admittedly this might be because I'm struggling to think of any coaches.

In any case aren't coaches usually aspiring managers who haven't yet been given the opportunity to manage?

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Does Noel Blake's tenure of the England U19 manager's job not count for these purposes?

Generally agree, though - the number of black managers in the professional game, compared to the number of former black players, is pretty scandalous.

 

[steveo]

Does Noel Blake's tenure of the England U19 manager's job not count for these purposes?

Generally agree, though - the number of black managers in the professional game, compared to the number of former black players, is pretty scandalous.

Wouldnt agree really Matt. A massive amount of black players are African so you could say why arent there more African mangers.
Most managers in England are therefore European. If 2 in 92 managers are black - nearly 2% - would it be fair to say that of all the European players in the English Leagues, a similar percentage are black? Also, and its a complete guess, I reckon the average age of managers in England is probably about 50 which means they would have packed up playing about 20 years ago. The number of black players in England 20 years ago was way fewer than today. When black players starting coming into football, they were usually flair players, forwards and strikers but over the years they became more workmanlike and defensive as well. I would expect this progression will work its way through to managers over the next decade.

This either makes a lot of sense or is total bollocks.

 

[McNasty]

To get a better view on things we really need to know out of the 92 clubs what percentage are British, European, Asian, American ( North/South ) and Australasian.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Wouldnt agree really Matt. A massive amount of black players are African so you could say why arent there more African mangers.
Most managers in England are therefore European. If 2 in 92 managers are black - nearly 2% - would it be fair to say that of all the European players in the English Leagues, a similar percentage are black? Also, and its a complete guess, I reckon the average age of managers in England is probably about 50 which means they would have packed up playing about 20 years ago. The number of black players in England 20 years ago was way fewer than today. When black players starting coming into football, they were usually flair players, forwards and strikers but over the years they became more workmanlike and defensive as well. I would expect this progression will work its way through to managers over the next decade.

This either makes a lot of sense or is total bollocks.

Twenty years ago we had Chris Powell, Andy Ansah, Keith Jones and Ian Benjamin in our team (36% of our starting XI). Twenty years later <2% of managers are black.

Now we might not have been typical, but I don't think we were that unusual.

 

[Kent Shrimper]

Are we saying the 92 chairman in the English leagues are racist or there aren't any good black managers? Surely in this day and age this isn't about race?

 

[Kent Shrimper]

Just read the first comment on the echo site and whole heartedly agree

 

[OldBlueLady]

Keith Alexander was one of the longest serving managers, regardless of skin colour wasn't he?

Just read the first comment on the echo site and whole heartedly agree

Yep, me too. Race, sex, religion should have no bearing on it, just appoint the best person for the job regardless of any legislation that tells you to appoint a black, lesbian, single parent (for example).

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Do they?

I'm struggling to think of many black coaches. Admittedly this might be because I'm struggling to think of any coaches.

In any case aren't coaches usually aspiring managers who haven't yet been given the opportunity to manage?

 

[Napster]

Ian Benjamin was manager of Soham until recently, he's looking for a bigger club...

Yemi Abiodun's a manager - of KFC in Malta.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Keith Alexander was one of the longest serving managers, regardless of skin colour wasn't he?

Yep, me too. Race, sex, religion should have no bearing on it, just appoint the best person for the job regardless of any legislation that tells you to appoint a black, lesbian, single parent (for example).

Other than a couple of bods at the FA suggesting positive discrimination I don't think anyone else is looking to take that route. Is worth looking at why the stats are what they are though. Not aware of any lesbians playing in the football league so their non representation as managers is easily answered. Steveo's maths on the subject is part of the answer but as Yorkshie says you would have expected that to have evened out a bit more by now.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Twenty years ago we had Chris Powell, Andy Ansah, Keith Jones and Ian Benjamin in our team (36% of our starting XI). Twenty years later <2% of managers are black.

Now we might not have been typical, but I don't think we were that unusual.

I remember thinking at the time that there were certain clubs who seemed to embrace black players (us, Palace, Charlton, Wimbeldon, West Brom - to name a few), while there were others (famously, Everton) who didn't. I don't think it's right to suggest, however, that the black players were "African" as such. Indeed, the few "African" ones of a certain vintage were the exception, not the rule (e.g. Iorfa, Lua-Lua). To give you an example, I (personally) wouldn't count Efe Sodje as "African" as such - notwithstanding the caps for Nigeria - given that he and his family spent most of their life growing up in Greenwich / Abbey Wood, in SE London.

I'm not saying that football club owners are explicitly racist in the "send 'em back" sense of the term. But do I think there's a low-level, underlying racism in the game - and indeed in Britain? Absolutely. The latter has recently been proven with a set of fake CVs which were sent to employers - where the candidates' qualifications were identical, and where no details of ethnicity were given, but where some of the candidates were called Richard and Chris, whilst others were called Leroy and Reuben. No prizes for guessing which ones got called to interview.

As for racism in the game - I'm reminded of comments from one owner in the 90s (Ron Noades? Maybe I'm doing him a disservice) in which he said he loved black players, because (to paraphrase) they were quick and thick, which made them useful in a club. If that's the underlying attitude, then it's no wonder so few have progressed.

As for Keith Alexander - well, yes, he was a manager. But we can probably sit here and list all the black English managers of league clubs of recent vintage, precisely because there have been so few:

Chris Powell
Chris Hughton
Keith Alexander
Paul Ince
John Barnes
Noel Blake [edit - not sure Noel has ever managed at league level, but his U19 stint is good enough for me]
Chris Kamara
Leroy Rosenior
Viv Anderson

Any more? Actually, Viv's a great example. How is it that the only spell he's had in the gaffer's chair is as player-manager of Barnsley? And what of - as YB has said - other well-known lower-league players (e.g. Ian Benjamin, Ken Charlery, Luther Blissett) who, for no obvious reason, never got a crack at a league club, when other people so obviously ill-suited and inept (yes, Alvin, I am thinking of you) did?

I think an attitude shift is needed - both by retired players and by club owners. I for one hope that Chrissy Powell is a big success at Charlton - and not merely because he's Sir Chris - because it might serve as an inspiration to others, in both the dugout and the boardroom.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Keith Alexander was one of the longest serving managers, regardless of skin colour wasn't he?

Yep, me too. Race, sex, religion should have no bearing on it, just appoint the best person for the job regardless of any legislation that tells you to appoint a black, lesbian, single parent (for example).

I agree absolutely that the best person for the job should be appointed regardless of what diversity boxes they tick - but who is suggesting otherwise?

The proposal is based upon the Rooney Rule in NFL. This rule stated that NFL franchises had to interview a minority candidate when appointing a head coach. They were under no obligation to hire them whatsoever, but some of them impressed in interview and were hired and did rather well and led their teams to the Super Bowl. This would suggest that the best candidates were previously not necessarily being hired.

The fact that Alvin Martin was once appointed Southend manager would also suggest that the best candidates were not being appointed in English football as well.

 

[Napster]

Actually, I read a good piece in Bounce about this - basically, Afro-Caribbeans/Africans excelled not in studying but sport because they wanted to emulate their peers, they saw people do well financially out of sport, rather than business. There is no black manager, because there is no-one being successful as a black manager. Nothing to do with racism but psychology. If there were more black managers, being successful, more black managers will come about.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Actually, I read a good piece in Bounce about this - basically, Afro-Caribbeans/Africans excelled not in studying but sport because they wanted to emulate their peers, they saw people do well financially out of sport, rather than business. There is no black manager, because there is no-one being successful as a black manager. Nothing to do with racism but psychology. If there were more black managers, being successful, more black managers will come about.

Even more reason to hope that Sir Chris does wonderful work at Charlton - could inspire some untapped talent and a few years down the line the FA may have more decent managers to choose from for the England job rather than having to look abroad.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Actually, I read a good piece in Bounce about this - basically, Afro-Caribbeans/Africans excelled not in studying but sport because they wanted to emulate their peers, they saw people do well financially out of sport, rather than business. There is no black manager, because there is no-one being successful as a black manager. Nothing to do with racism but psychology. If there were more black managers, being successful, more black managers will come about.

Fair enough when you're talking about kids wanting to be sportsmen rather than businessmen, but once they become footballers aren't their peers other footballers, quite a few of whom go onto be successful as managers?

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Maybe they don't want to become managers...

As steveo alludes to, I think you'll see more and more black managers in the next 10/15 years. The black players who are 'manager age' now would've been around in the 80s/90s when there were less black players and racism was much more common. I imagine more of the current generation of black players will go into management. And there are quite a few black coaches, not forgetting the England Women's manager. Also, if you look at the records of the black managers that we have had, they've not generally been very successful. Chris Hughton's the only one who I'd say has been remotely successful at a high level. I certainly don't agree with this Rooney Rule idea. I really don't think this is a major problem, just another project for the PC Equality and Diversity army.

ps. Did anyone else notice that in that Echo article, the sub-headline across the top described Powell as "coloured"?

 

[steveo]

On a similar theme, why are there so few English footballers of Asian origin? I know they like their Cricket but don't they play sport in the winter?