New diversity data and hiring statistics further highlight the “grass ceiling” facing black footballers, the co-founder of the Black Footballers Partnership has said.
BFP data published earlier this year found black players make up 43 per cent of those active in the Premier League.
However, statistics released by the Football Association on Wednesday show that only 7.4 per cent of people in senior leadership roles at the 53 clubs signed up to its Football Leadership Diversity Code are black, Asian or mixed heritage.
The figure was only slightly higher in team operations (8.9 per cent) and only 10.5 per cent among senior coaches. The clubs also failed to hit any of the code’s eight diversity hiring targets in the 2022-23 season, with the FA accepting the hiring rates are too low to drive the necessary rapid change in representation.
The FA is consulting on a new rule to force clubs to report biannually on their workforce, and BFP co-founder Delroy Corinaldi feels if the game cannot get this right, there could be a future role for the independent regulator in ensuring compliance.
“Black players have been told time and again by the FA that you need to give the code time to work,” Corinaldi told the PA news agency.
“How much time do they want? If the FA can’t deliver, it needs to hold its hand up.
“Black players are nearly 50 per cent of your (playing) workforce. The signal you’re sending to those people is that once you get to your 30s, it’s punditry or leave the game, because there is a real ‘grass ceiling’ the FA is doing little to remove.
“How disheartening and soul-destroying is that?
“This government has said they’re not having diversity as part of its football governance regime. But maybe we need to look at that again. An industry where nearly half the key staff are blocked from promotion is not a functioning one.
“We need to get all the authorities in and we need to get serious about this problem, otherwise it will continue for generation after generation.”
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham admitted in the foreword to this year’s FLDC report that the game was making “slower progress” towards diversifying at the executive, operations and coaching level than had been hoped.
He believes mandating clubs to report workforce data represents a “critical change for football which futureproofs our approach for years to come”.
“There is no silver bullet to solving these challenges and we know that this alone will not drive all of the change we want to see.
“But publishing who we are, measuring that regularly and setting targets that stretch clubs to do better is a big step forward. It will be for clubs to set their own targets based on local factors, but it will help provide a clear statement that football is tackling diversity head-on.”
Granada 0-4 Real Madrid: Diaz stars in crushing victory for LaLiga champions
Newly-crowned LaLiga champions Real Madrid earned an emphatic 4-0 win over relegated Granada on Saturday, breaking a single-season club record after making it 29 LaLiga games unbeaten.
Carlo Ancelotti's side continued their superb form following their Champions League semi-final win over Bayern Munich, reaching 90 points in the league and moving 15 clear of second-placed Girona.
Fran Garcia broke the deadlock with an easy finish after a long series of passes in the 38th minute before he set up Arda Guler to slot home and extend the advantage just before half-time.
Brahim Diaz made it 3-0 in the 49th minute with a shot into the near post, and the former Manchester City attacker scored his second nine minutes later off a Luka Modric pass from the right.
A much-changed Madrid were in control throughout as Los Blancos moved to 29 league matches undefeated, surpassing their best unbeaten run in a single campaign under John Toshack in 1989-90.
Granada, meanwhile, were already relegated after Mallorca's 1-0 win at Las Palmas as their LaLiga stay came to an abrupt end on Saturday.
Nottingham Forest 2-3 Chelsea: Reds made to wait for safety after late collapse
Nottingham Forest must wait to make mathematically certain of their Premier League status after conceding two late goals in a dramatic 3-2 home loss to Chelsea.
Forest began Saturday's thrilling game knowing a point from their final two matches would be enough to secure safety after Luton Town's 3-1 loss at West Ham and Burnley's 2-1 defeat to Tottenham.
After Willy Boly cancelled out Mykhailo Mudryk's strike inside the opening 16 minutes, Callum Hudson-Odoi thought he had won the game with a delightful 74th-minute curler against his former side.
However, Chelsea silenced the City Ground through quickfire goals from Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson in the final 10 minutes.
Chelsea's third win in a row keeps them seventh and level on points with Newcastle United in sixth, while Forest are three points better off than Luton with a game to go, but they are 12 goals better off in terms of goal difference.
Mudryk controlled Cole Palmer's defence-splitting pass and finished across Matz Sels to give Chelsea the lead, but Boly levelled for Forest with a free header from Morgan Gibbs-White's free-kick delivery – the ball taking a touch off Conor Gallagher on its way in.
Jackson had a chance to restore Chelsea's lead before the interval, but his effort was kept out by Sels when played through by Palmer.
Forest also created plenty of opportunities at 1-1 as Ryan Yates clipped the outside of the post and Gibbs-White did likewise from a close-range header, with the rebound dropping to Wood.
The Forest striker somehow blazed over in one of the misses of the season, which almost proved costly as Thiago Silva clipped the post at the other end soon after.
Hudson-Odoi was next to hit the frame of the goal, but it did not appear to matter when he cut inside Malo Gusto and curled the ball away from Petrovic.
Then came a late twist, though, as substitute Sterling scored a similar curler at the opposite end in the 80th minute, before fellow replacement Reece James – returning from a lengthy lay-off – crossed for Jackson to head home a dramatic winner.
Napoli 0-2 Bologna: Champions League-chasing Rossoblu down tame hosts
Napoli saw their winless run extend to five games after Bologna secured a 2-0 win with two quickfire goals at their lacklustre hosts in Serie A on Saturday.
Forward Dan Ndoye gave Bologna the lead in the ninth minute, heading home from point-blank range, before defender Stefan Posch nodded in to double the advantage three minutes later following a corner.
Napoli should have pulled one back soon after when they were awarded a penalty for Remo Freuler's foul on Victor Osimhen but Bologna goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia kept out Matteo Politano's low shot.
Bologna, at least temporarily, moved up to third on 67 points, leapfrogging Juventus – with 66 – who host relegated Salernitana on Sunday.
Napoli are eighth on 51 points as last season's Scudetto winners continue to struggle to match their heroics from the previous term.
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