PFA should adhere to Rooney Rule and interview BAME candidates for chief executive role, says Ben Purkiss

The policy, introduced in the NFL, requires teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for senior positions

Purkiss is departing his role as chairman of the PFA after a power-struggle with CEO Gordon Taylor (PA)

The Professional Footballers’ Association should adhere to the Rooney Rule and consider BAME candidates to replace Gordon Taylor as chief executive, according to departing chairman Ben Purkiss.

The Rooney Rule is a policy used in the NFL that requires teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for senior positions.

Taylor announced on Wednesday that he will leave his role at the trade union after 38 years at the conclusion of an independent review after a convoluted power-struggle with Purkiss.

However, the process of choosing Taylor’s successor will only begin at the end of the review, with the 74-year-old remaining in place during a “controlled transition period”.

Speaking to Standard Sport, Purkiss said: “We want to encourage football to be representative of society and the playing membership. At present, you see a disproportion between people from different backgrounds playing football and those on the administrative side: the decision makers, the managers, the coaches.

“There are well qualified and highly educated people out there from all different backgrounds. With all of our positions, we would welcome and encourage candidates from those backgrounds. At the moment there is evidence that there is an unconscious bias that exists.

“The [recruitment] process will come out of the review. I would hope the process that comes out of the review will reflect the Rooney Rule that we advocate in football. We want someone who represents the players, someone who is close to them and can engage with them, irrespective of background.”

Purkiss and the 13-person management committee will all follow Taylor out of the door in the union’s bid for a fresh start, with accusations that under Taylor, who earned £2.29m last year, the organisation has fallen short in regards to player welfare.

Taylor and Purkiss’s departures follow Richard Scudamore stepping down as chief executive of the Premier League in a dramatic change to the landscape of British football, with FA chief executive Martin Glenn and EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey also leaving their positions last year.