Gold Cup 2019: Guyana boss Michael Johnson laments English football’s diversity problem after unorthodox coaching journey

Exclusive interview: The former Birmingham and Derby defender has been forced to travel to North America to prosper in his coaching career

Michael Johnson wants to be a sporting director, and he has all the qualifications and experiences to do it, but right now he is in the United States coaching the Guyana team at the Gold Cup. Johnson’s side have lost their opening game 4-0 to the US in St Paul, Minnesota, the start of their three-game campaign.

To be in the US coaching a national team at the Gold Cup is a thrill for Johnson, who says that this job was an opportunity too good to turn down. Johnson played hundreds of games for Notts County, Derby County and Birmingham City in the 1990s and 2000s, has coaching experience with Birmingham and Cardiff City, and has two academic sporting qualifications. But he could not even find an interview for a managerial job in England, despite applying for plenty all over the country.

It was only when Jason Roberts, the legendary former West Brom, Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers striker, gave him a call that Johnson found an opportunity. Roberts is now director of development with CONCACAF, the football federation for the Carribbean, central and north America.

When Guyana needed a new national team manager, Roberts helped them to find one, alerting prospective managers in the UK to the vacancy. “Jason put about 10 names forward and Guyana narrowed it down,” Johnson tells The Independent. “I managed to get right the way through the interview process into the final interview, and then I was successful with it.”

Johnson had been working hard on his qualifications ever since he stopped playing. He has just completed Uefa’s Masters for International Players, an executive course for players who have played at the top level. Eric Abidal, Maxwell, Luis Garcia and Gilberto Silva have all graduated from it in recent years.

Johnson also took Manchester Metropolitan University’s masters in sport directorship, a two-year part-time course about how to run a high-performance organisation. Johnson hopes both will help him to move into a director’s role in the game.

But it is worth asking why a coach like Johnson had to travel as far as the Carribbean for an opportunity. In one sense his story is unique, but in another it is very familiar. Black ex-players are largely shut out of managerial and directors’ roles in English football.

The recent sackings of Darren Moore and Chris Hughton mean there are just four black managers in the 92 professional clubs in England, numbers almost as low as ever.

And Johnson believes that the lack of diversity in appointments is not just unjust, it is also holding back the game as a whole. “You look right across the board of English football or in Europe,” he says. “I don’t see enough representation of diversity that is in the game. And it’s not just diversity with regards to ethnicity.

“It’s also diversity of thought. What people of different cultures bring to the table. Especially now, when you’re looking at a really multi-national game, that is played with people from all parts of the world, from different backgrounds.”

Earlier this month the EFL announced that it would bring in the ‘Rooney Rule’ for its 72 member clubs, making sure that they interview at least one BAME candidate for a job vacancy. After years of words but inaction, Johnson is heartened by this recent news, and he hopes that they start to make some progress. To make sure the best candidates are found for vacant roles.

Michael Johnson hopes to see greater diversity in the English game (AFP/Getty)

“I understand that there have been new measures brought in by the EFL, it will be interesting to see if that creates opportunities for everybody,” he says. “Not just for people of colour, but for everybody. And it’s not just that because you’re black, you should be employed, of course not. But if you are qualified and you have the attributes, all this is saying, is that this is somebody you should be looking at. Base your opinion on facts, rather than biases.”

This has been a difficult and dispiriting year regarding racism in English football, but Johnson hopes that the well-publicised comments of Raheem Sterling have helped to push us all into a more honest conversation about race, that will benefit everyone.

“It was refreshing Raheem Sterling coming out and speaking about it,” he says. “And he’s right. I hope that’s one of the reasons the EFL have moved. It’s alright everybody saying that there is a problem. But ok, what are we going to do about it? That is the thing. If we all feel there is an injustice going on, how do we correct it? How do we work together – I don’t think it’s just a black thing – how do we work together to improve the game and to improve society? Football is a terrific tool to do that.”