Raheem Sterling calls for more black managers to tackle racism in football

Man City forward asked why Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard were able to walk into management roles when former England teammates Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole have struggled, and highlighted an absence of black people in positions of power

Raheem Sterling believes that football’s racial inequality leaves young black players like himself left with no one in senior positions to talk to about problems such as racism, and has questioned why former England internationals such as Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard walked into managerial jobs when both Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole have struggled.

The 25-year-old Manchester City forward has been one of football’s most prominent voices in the last year, following his decision last December to speak out against the media for their ability to “fuel racism” with how they report on young black footballers.

Sterling has now turned his attention towards the sport’s authorities as well as the process of hiring managers and coaching staff, with an absence of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (Bame) individuals leaving players with no representation.

"This is a time to speak on these subjects, speak on injustice, especially in my field," Sterling said on BBC Newsnight on Monday.

"There's something like 500 players in the Premier League and a third of them are black and we have no representation of us in the hierarchy, no representation of us in the coaching staffs. There's not a lot of faces that we can relate to and have conversations with.”

The problem for Sterling is that talk of change has been going on for too long without actions. The Football Association announced in 2018 in an equality action plan that just 5 per cent of its leadership roles and 13 per cent of the national coaching teams were occupied by Bame individuals, numbers that the governing body declared they wanted to improve to 11 and 20 per cent respectively by 2021.

Fifty-six-time capped England international Sterling believes now is the right time to make the needed changes to put Bame people in the right positions, with the focus on racial inequality following the death of George Floyd in the United States. Floyd was a 46-year-old African American man who was killed while in police custody despite being unarmed, with four Minneapolis policemen charged over his death.

"With these protests that are going on it's all well and good just talking, but it's time that we need to have conversations, to be able to spark debates,” Sterling added.

“But at the same time, it's coming together and finding a solution to be able to spark change because we can talk as much as we want about changing and putting people, black people, in these positions that I do feel they should be in.”

Sterling raised the example of the former England players who have either walked into appealing jobs in management or struggled to land a role anywhere in the football league as an example of how the colour of a person’s skin can alter their job prospects.

"There's Steven Gerrard, your Frank Lampards, you have your Sol Campbells and you have your Ashley Coles,” Sterling said.

“All had great careers, all played for England. At the same time, they've all respectfully done their coaching badges to coach at the highest level and the two that haven't been given the right opportunities are the two black former players.

"I feel like that's what's lacking here, it's not just taking the knee, it is about giving people the chance they deserve."

Gerrard landed himself a coaching role at Liverpool before taking the Rangers job in Scotland as his first major role, while Lampard has made swift progress from becoming Derby County manager to taking the Chelsea role that he currently occupies. In contrast, Campbell became assistant manager of Trinidad and Tobago at the start of 2017, but did not land himself a management role until late 2018 when he took the Macclesfield Town position, before moving on to Southend United in October 2019 - both jobs that came with significant financial constraints - while Cole is yet to find himself a job back in football despite earning his coaching badges with a reputation behind him as one of England’s greatest ever defenders.

Sterling also feels that changes need to be made outside of football in order to filter down through the sport.

"The change is being able to speak to people in Parliament, people at the hierarchy at my football club, football clubs across the country, people at the national team of England, to implement change and give equal chances to not just black coaches but also different ethnicities,” Sterling said.

"Give black coaches, not just coaches but people in their respective fields, the right opportunity. I feel like that's what's lacking here, it's not just taking the knee, it is about giving people the chance they deserve."

He added: "When there's someone from a black background I can go to in the FA with a problem I have within the club, that will be when I know change is happening and not just in my field, also in Parliament," Sterling added.

"Once we do see those numbers shifting, that's when I'll be happy and the people will be happy."