Premier League clubs have voted unanimously for a package of measures they claim will help boost the number of coaches from black and minority ethnic backgrounds at the top of the game. At Thursday’s meeting of all 20 Premier League clubs they passed a package of measures designed to increase vastly the supply of new coaches with the Uefa Pro Licence qualification.
The Premier League will fund 23 places a year, six of which will go to coaches from BME backgrounds in the first year, with all of its clubs represented. Three more places were given to female coaches.
Each club will nominate one promising coach or former player to be part of the elite coach apprentice scheme, with the cost of the Pro Licence course and a competitive salary paid by the Premier League. They will also receive mentoring and advice when they return to the clubs.
In pushing the merits of the scheme, the Premier League argued to clubs that it is important to increase size and diversity of the talent pool before introducing a Rooney rule-style law that mandated a BME presence on shortlists.
The Premier League’s rulebook has also been rewritten to require its clubs to meet the highest level of the equality standard kitemark by the end of the 2018‑19 season. Every club must meet the entry-level standard by the end of 2015-16. The rules cover everything from recruitment best practice to how fans and employees should be treated.
Premier League insiders said the new measures have been under discussion for at least two years and are not a knee-jerk reaction to the current debate around the Rooney rule. Increasingly frustrated by inaction from football’s governing bodies, campaign groups and the Professional Footballers’ Association have called for the immediate introduction of the Rooney rule and targets for the proportion of BME coaches.
The Football League chairman, Greg Clarke, set up a commission to look into what could be done to improve diversity among coaches after being criticised for failing to introduce a Rooney rule-style amendment to its rulebook.
Research commissioned by the Sports People’s Think Tank (SPTT) and the Fare network released this week showed that just over 3% of all senior positions in the 92 league clubs were held by coaches from a BME background.
When it came to senior administrative positions in clubs and governing bodies, the figure fell to 1%. The SPTT called for a new target of one in five coaches from BME backgrounds by the end of the decade, a total that would come closer to matching the proportion of ethnic minority players.
As part of the Premier League scheme, clubs will also be offered so-called “unconscious bias training” for those making recruitment decisions. It will challenge their subconscious assessment of candidates and, in turn, seek to break the tendency for clubs to fall back on existing relationships and the “old boys’ network”.
The hope is that new pathways will be created for coaches, increasing diversity and widening the talent pool at the top of the game.
The Premier League said it consulted players, coaches and managers from a range of backgrounds before putting the proposals to a vote but the measures are unlikely to be enough for those campaign groups who want more urgent action.
The Football Association, which has committed to a target of 10% of coaches to come from a BME background, is also expected to shortly present its own proposals to help bring through talent.
