Chairmen 'think black players not educated enough' to be managers

[Xyresic]

Chairmen 'think black players not educated enough' to be managers

Football chairmen think black players are not "educated enough" to become managers, says Birmingham academy coach Michael Johnson.

Chris Kiwomya's departure from Notts County leaves only three black managers in the Premier and Football Leagues.

"The stats are alarming. There does seem to be a trend that we are not getting opportunities," said Johnson.

Fifa's anti-racism chief Jeffrey Webb recently told the BBC black players in England were "demoralised".

"We have three black managers at the helm and when you look at boardroom level, we have none," Johnson told BBC Radio 5 live.

"I think it's a lack of education from the guys upstairs, the board members who seem to think that black players are OK to go and play for their club, but when it comes to managing or stepping upstairs into the boardroom, that might be a problem.

"I wouldn't say it's racist but I think there are some severe problems with some people maybe not thinking that a black player is educated enough to go upstairs in a boardroom capacity.

"A black player may be well thought of as a player, but may not be thought of as a manager in their eyes.

"I think it is a lot of ignorance on the part of some of the owners and people at boardroom level, who suggest we are not good enough to go in there and fill the boots in certain positions - especially at the Premier League and Championship levels."

Johnson played for Birmingham during their promotion season in 2001-02, in a career that also took in spells at Derby, Notts County and Sheffield Wednesday.

The former Jamaica international had a two-game stint as joint caretaker manager of Notts with Dave Kevan following the sacking of Ian McParland in October 2009.

Webb, Fifa's anti-racism task force chief, had earlier said that many non-white players felt they did not get chances to move into coaching or management.

He explained: "Many of them are becoming very demoralised and these are issues of course that we hope the FA will take on and that of the Premier League."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24725469

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

This was an issue in American football. Obviously there is a belief that Blacks aren't good strategists.

The best type of coach is someone who wasn't a star athlete. If you look at the backgrounds of coaches in any sport they're typically journeyman players if they played professionally or didn't play professionally at all. A star athlete plays on instinct. A journeyman player is more aware of strategy; he can't rely on his talent alone. He thinks of position and things like that, while star athletes simply act.

[Xyresic]

This was an issue in American football. Obviously there is a belief that Blacks aren't good strategists.

It seems in October (black history month, in the UK at least) there was this media hype about black people in sports.

I've heard about the Rooney rule, is that what came out of the issue?

The best type of coach is someone who wasn't a star athlete. If you look at the backgrounds of coaches in any sport they're typically journeyman players if they played professionally or didn't play professionally at all. A star athlete plays on instinct. A journeyman player is more aware of strategy; he can't rely on his talent alone. He thinks of position and things like that, while star athletes simply act.

I haven't really thought about it but now that you mention it Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho have had successful careers as managers but weren't prolific as players.

[alexkid]

André Villas-Boas has never played a professional game of football in his life, and he's managing. Whether or not he's having a successful career as manager at this current moment in time is arguable, but you can't argue Europa League-winning credentials. More to the point, it's hard to imagine prolific black players manage teams - you certainly couldn't imagine Drogba doing so!

[Baldur]

André Villas-Boas has never played a professional game of football in his life, and he's managing. Whether or not he's having a successful career as manager at this current moment in time is arguable, but you can't argue Europa League-winning credentials. More to the point, it's hard to imagine prolific black players manage teams - you certainly couldn't imagine Drogba doing so!

Not Drogba but Claude Makelele, Lillian Thuram, Patrick Vieira, John Barnes, Sol Campbell all seems like very smart people that wouldn't have any issues being in a boardroom or at the side line of the field managing a team, but it's pretty interesting that England that want to see themselves as a country with very little racism against black players and are the first to complain about russian fans, polish fans and so on doesn't realize they have problems themselves. Ironic but i think these things will change with this issue being brought to life, the english FA is probably the best in dealing with problems pretty fast.