An anti-discrimination charity warned this week that English football risks losing a generation of coaches from Black, Asian or mixed-heritage backgrounds after the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo by Nottingham Forest left the Premier League without a single Black manager.
Samuel Okafor, chief executive of Kick It Out, said the development highlighted a long-standing problem in the game. "This is an issue that has been around for over a decade, and there have been former players who have given up trying to make their way as coaches and managers," he said. "We know that diverse talent exists, and clubs must be transparent and fair with their recruitment practices. We cannot lose another generation because of a lack of coordinated action."
Kick It Out said it has set up Football United, an external strategy launched earlier this month aimed at tackling under-representation in leadership positions at clubs, which the charity said often do not "reflect their local communities." The warning follows a pattern of disparity between the playing ranks and the game’s leadership: a 2022 report from the Black Footballers Partnership found that 43% of Premier League footballers were Black, while only 4.4% of managerial positions held by former players were taken by Black applicants. The proportion in executive, leadership and ownership roles was even lower, at 1.6%.
The current absence of Black managers in the Premier League marks a recurrence. The top flight had previously been without a Black manager between March and August 2023, after Patrick Vieira left Crystal Palace and before Vincent Kompany was promoted with Burnley.
Historical milestones underline the slow progress of representation. Ruud Gullit was the first Black manager to take charge of a Premier League club when he became player-manager at Chelsea in 1996. Paul Ince was the first Black British manager appointed as head coach in the Premier League with Blackburn in 2008. More recently, Ashvir Singh Johal became the first Sikh manager in English professional football with his appointment at Morecambe.
Governing bodies have introduced initiatives intended to increase opportunities for coaches and executives from under-represented groups, but advocates say those measures have not eliminated disparities. The Football Association launched the Football Leadership Diversity Code in 2020 to boost diversity across senior leadership, team operations and coaching roles; more than 50 clubs, including 19 Premier League teams, signed up. In 2023 the FA introduced Rule N, requiring clubs to publish biannual workforce diversity data covering age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and ethnicity, after many clubs failed to meet earlier targets.
The Premier League established the No Room For Racism Action Plan in 2021 and funds two coach inclusion programmes: the Professional Player to Coach Scheme and the Coach Inclusion Diversity Scheme. The league said more than 80 coaches have used the programmes and that 75 went on to full-time employment during the four years since the schemes began.
Despite those programmes, Kick It Out and other advocates say clubs retain primary control over recruitment and that change will depend on greater transparency and concerted action across the sport. The charity’s leadership strategy is intended to press that case and to create pathways for coaches from Black, Asian and mixed-heritage backgrounds to advance into managerial and senior roles.
The debate over representation in football leadership mirrors wider public discussions about diversity in institutions and institutions of authority. Campaigners and some clubs argue that increasing transparency in recruitment and expanding targeted development programmes are necessary steps to ensure leadership reflects the demographics of players and supporters. Clubs, leagues and governing bodies say they are working on inclusion but point to the complexity of hiring decisions and the time needed for programs to translate into senior appointments.
As the domestic season progresses and clubs continue to make managerial changes, advocates will watch appointments closely for signs that recruitment practices are becoming more inclusive. For campaigners such as Kick It Out, the immediate concern is that without coordinated action and clearer pathways, promising coaches from under-represented backgrounds may abandon ambitions to manage at the highest levels, further entrenching the gap between playing and leadership representation in English football.