I would agree with this.
It would be interesting to see the percentage of black men who applied for the positions. If this is say 5% of total people applying then it would go some way to explaining the low numbers in general.
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I'd say it was more than 0%. Weren't there loads of black footballers in the 2000s? I'd say more than 10% easily.
People were making the same agruments when there were no black managers in the early 00s too but we've always had loads of black players in this country. There has to be a reason why there are so few black managers.
I think the argument is the same as in a lot of industries. The racism isn't obvious racism it's that they think black players as performers is fine but not as competent enough to manage.
Surely there has to be an explanation of why there are so few black managers. We always hear the best for the job argument but why wouldn't there be any black managers who are good enough for the job?
Football isn't as bad as other industries but it could still improve. I was reading something the other day about the first black baseball player was seen as being the first black player who was "good enough" but it wasn't actually true it had just been that systematic and societal racism has stopped any previous black players from reaching that level.
It's because they're not trusted. 40 years ago there were fans, club owners, managers and players who believed that black players were soft, didn't fancy it when it got a bit tough or the weather was cold, lazy etc. For years we also witnessed racial stereotyping with black players by white coaches, there was an abundance of very quick, skillful wide players, attack minded but very little in the way of the proverbial hard working, no nonsense, grating midfielder or the defender who put his body in front of almost anything. Some white football coaches didn't think that black players in this country had that discipline, desire etc in the same way that a white player did. Black players were identified based on pace and ability to get past defenders. Thankfully, we've come out of that now.
The next hurdle faced for black players is getting into positions of power after they've finished playing, like management, top level coaching, director of football, boardroom etc. It seems that they're facing the same racist stereotypical profiling that was prevalent all those years ago when gifted black players burst onto the scene. It's a form of covert racism in my opinion, Not enough black men are in positions of power or where big decisions are made, yet i think that black players make up 35% of pro footballers in this country. Something is very wrong.