Black coaches are rare in football. Is this because of a lack of diversity in the boardroom?
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Two of the biggest coaching jobs in football will become available at the end of the season. And while it is not yet clear who will fill the positions at Liverpool and Bayern Munich, it’s highly unlikely the successful candidates will be Black.
The standout favourite is Xabi Alonso, who is less than two years into his first job as head coach with Bayer Leverkusen. Alonso, who is white, had a distinguished playing career with Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern, and Bayer is on course to win the German title this season.
“You have to be fair. Who’s qualified to do that job?” former Premier League player Troy Deeney told AP.
“Part of the argument isn’t to just say, ‘Give Black people, women, whoever you think is marginalized, just give them the job.’ Who’s the Black manager that’s doing really well at the moment that deserves that job?”
Ruud Gullit, then one of the most celebrated players in the world, became the Premier League’s first Black manager when he was appointed by Chelsea in 1996. Multiple Champions League-winner Clarence Seedorf was hired by Italian giant AC Milan in 2014. He lasted only four months.
But high-profile Black players are more commonly hired as coaches to low-level teams.
Former England internationals Paul Ince and Sol Campbell began their managerial careers with then-fourth division team Macclesfield. Ince’s only top-flight job was with Blackburn in 2008. He was fired after less than six months and has not been hired by a Premier League club since.
Meanwhile, Campbell’s ex-England teammate, Frank Lampard, who is white, has held three Premier League coaching positions on the back of his one year at second division Derby.
Deeney was hired as head coach of fourth-tier Forest Green Rovers in December, but was fired less than a month later. He remains determined.
“If the reports coming out are suggesting the scale is tipped not in my favor, it doesn’t mean I don’t play the game. It just means I’ve got to play the game harder than everybody else,” he said.
Hill had a four-month spell as manager of Luton, then in the third tier of English football, and has struggled to find work in England ever since. He has just taken a position as executive director of Evolution football in suburban Chicago.
“The industry is such that everyone wants to stay in it and only a certain number of people can,” he said. “But, disproportionately, Black people do not manage to stay within the game at a far greater rate than anyone else.”