Chris Hughton calls for more coaching opportunities for minorities

The former Newcastle and Brighton manager believes more must be done to encourage BAME coaches to take their badges

Former Brighton and Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton insists English football’s stakeholders have a responsibility to help develop more coaching opportunities for those from minority backgrounds.

Hughton has spoken out after worldwide protests against racial injustice following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.

“Over the years... there were so many BAME coaches who would apply for jobs and not even get an interview,” Hughton told the Guardian.

“... If you are looking at the make-up of our stakeholders and they are without ethnicity, it doesn’t make things easier.

“There is no doubt that our stakeholders have a responsibility. We have to set things in place to encourage more BAME coaches to want to take their badges.”

Chris Hughton believes the authorities must create more opportunities for black managers (Getty) (Getty Images)

The England Football League last year said clubs would interview at least one BAME candidate for first-team managerial positions.

Hughton insists that decision may not lead to more equality in the sport.

“I would have no doubt that a lot of people would use it as a sticking plaster: ‘I will interview at least one BAME person for the job because I have to’,” he added.

“What I would rather have is for everybody to use it in the right way. This has to lead to BAME individuals in positions of real authority.”

Hughton’s views echo those of Raheem Sterling, who spoke candidly to BBC Newsnight about the opportunities for black players to move into management.

The Manchester City and England star said: “The coaching staff that you see around football clubs: there’s Steven Gerrard, your Frank Lampards, your Sol Campbells and your Ashley Coles. All had great careers, all played for England. At the same time, they’ve all respectfully done their coaching badges to coach at the highest level and the two that haven’t been given the right opportunities are the two black former players.

“The change is being able to speak to people in Parliament, people at the hierarchy at my football club, football clubs across the country, people at the national team of England, to implement change and give equal chances to not just black coaches but also different ethnicities. Give black coaches, not just coaches but people in their respective fields, the right opportunity. I feel like that’s what’s lacking here, it’s not just taking the knee, it is about giving people the chance they deserve.

“There’s something like 500 players in the Premier League and a third of them are black and we have no representation of us in the hierarchy, no representation of us in the coaching staffs. There’s not a lot of faces that we can relate to and have conversations with.”