The chairmen and owners of English football clubs have been warned that they risk being branded "a bunch of racists" if they do not take immediate action to address the startling lack of black managers in the national game.
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Paul Ince, at MK Dons, and Macclesfield's Keith Alexander are the only black managers of the 92 Premier and Football League clubs. In contrast, the ratio of players is 15 times higher, with about 33 per cent coming from black or ethnic minority backgrounds.
"It's embarrassing and something is drastically wrong - the statistics don't lie," said Brendon Batson, the FA's consultant on equality and diversity. "I'm an optimistic person but there will come a time when we'll have to be more radical.
"If it carries on much longer, there will be a clamour to say, 'You're just a bunch of racists'." Most worrying is the lack of any obvious progress over the past decade."
A Daily Telegraph survey has revealed that the number of black managers - two - is the same as in the 1995-96 season, yet there has been a drop from the high point of five in 2001-02. At the same time, the number of black players who have taken coaching qualifications has risen.
Leading figures in the game fear that another generation of distinguished black players will miss out. "The evidence is overwhelming. In the past the industry has been appalling at encouraging black players to make the transition into coaching and management," said Garth Crooks, an FA Cup winner with Tottenham and advisor to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. "Everybody in football is trying very hard to address the perception from grassroots that the industry might be perceived as institutionally racist."
The Government is now involved and plans to hold talks with the League Managers' Association to identify ways of giving black managers an equal chance. "These statistics are very concerning and show that there's still a long way to go before equality on the pitch translates into equality off it," said sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe. "Clearly more needs to be done to ensure black managers are given an equal chance. I'd also like to see more ethnic minority representation in the boardroom."
There is just one non-white chairman and one non-white chief executive among the 92 clubs and no black or ethnic minority representation on the boards of the FA, Premier League or Football League.
