Is the number of black and minority ethnic managers in English football in decline?

The number of BME managers in the Football League fell by a third on Wednesday

Ex-Queens Park Rangers boss Chris Ramsey (Getty Images)

On Wednesday morning, the total number of black and minority ethnic (BME) full-time managers working in English league football was six. By the time the final whistle had been blown on the evening’s Champions League action, it had fallen by a third.

Huddersfield Town, currently sat in 18th place in the Championship, were the first to swing the axe. Popular and charismatic young coach Chris Powell lost his job after picking up only three league wins from 15 games so far this season.

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The current number of black and minority ethnic Football League managers

Chris Ramsey’s Queens Park Rangers, meanwhile, sat five positions higher than the Terriers when Powell’s departure was announced. That would not save him.

Eleven hours later, Ramsey had also been relieved of his duties, with former Loftus Road boss Neil Warnock returning to take temporary charge.

The sackings left Chris Hughton (Brighton), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Burton Albion), Keith Curle (Carlisle United) and Ricardo Moniz (Notts County) are now the only four managers from BME backgrounds in the Football League.

The reaction

Both dismissals were unequivocally related to Powell and Ramsey’s respective results and the fact that they came within hours of each other was coincidence. Even so, they represent a major step backwards for those who campaign to see more BME coaches appointed as full-time football managers.

Troy Townsend, Kick It Out campaigner and father of Tottenham Hotspur winger Andros, was one of many to highlight how significant a setback the dismissals were for those from BME backgrounds hoping to break into the game.

"To lose both managers sends out a really strong message to those aspiring to get on this journey," he told BBC Radio 5 Live on Wednesday. "People will look and think 'Is it worth it? Is it because of the colour of their skin? Or is it because they are bad managers?”

Ex-Huddersfield Town boss Chris Powell (Getty Images)

"I know people will say results are not right but there is a lot more to it than that. Today is disheartening without a doubt."

Lord Ouseley, head of Kick It Out, was similarly disappointed.

"I'm sure the two getting sacked on the same day is a coincidence, but it means we have just lost a third of the black managers in one fell swoop,” he said.

"It does make it more difficult to encourage people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds to pursue a coaching job in professional football when you see this happening.”

Are BME coaches being given management roles in English football?

The question then is whether, generally, the number BME managers is rising or falling. Is it case of gradual but constant integration into the game's upper echelons or could governing bodies be doing more to help?

To give the fairest representation, The Independent totted up the number of full-time BME managers to have taken charge in a league game for each season since Rochdale's appointment of Tony Collins in June 1960, using data published by the League Managers’ Association.

What do the results show?

It has not been ever-increasing rise towards full, representative integration, to say the least, and Collins’ appointment was not exactly a watershed moment. Only two other managers from BME background took charge of a league game over the course of the next three decades.

A significant rise only came when English football entered the new millennium and, crucially, our results suggest that integration of BME managers has stagnated ever since.

In the 2001/02 season, Andy Preece at Bury, Noel Blake at Exeter City, Jean Tigana at Fulham, Gary Bennett at Darlington, Carlton Palmer at Stockport County and Garry Thompson at Bristol Rovers all took charge at least once – then a record-high of six in a season.

The late Keith Alexander (Getty Images)

This number was maintained the next year, despite Blake, Bennett and Thompson losing their jobs. However, this number soon falls and the new names are few and far between.

The modern era's nadir comes in the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons when only two managers, Paul Ince and the late Keith Alexander, feature. This figure is a low as that from 1992/93, the year of the inaugural Premier League.

Things have improved. Last season, seven league managers from BME backgrounds took charge of a Football League match, a record high in the history of league football. This season, the figure stands just one less at six.

Even so, it stands that there has been no significant rise since that 2001/02 season, making any sense of constant progress an illusion.

A report by Sports People’s Think Tank this time last year recorded that 25 per cent of professional footballers came from BME groups. By contrast, now, only 4 managers at the 92 league clubs from are from BME backgrounds – which comes to 4.3 per cent.

A club might be right to remove their manager after a stuttering start to the season, they may not. It’s a game of opinions, after all.

What is certain, however, is that the integration of BME groups into the playing level of English football is yet to seep through into management.

If anything, gradual integration has stagnated and that will not change until clubs proactively offer opportunities to the minorities still on English football’s outskirts.