Clubs must face sanctions if they fail to comply with diversity reporting requirements and workforce targets, Kick It Out’s chief executive has said.
Data released by the Football Association on Wednesday showed the 53 clubs signed up to the Football Leadership Diversity Code (FLDC) collectively failed to meet any of the eight hiring targets set last season.
The FA board has now approved the creation of a new rule which will make clubs publicly declare their workforce diversity data on age, sex, gender, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation twice a year from 2024-25.
The detail of the new rule will be worked out in consultation with the Premier League, the EFL, the Women’s Super League and the Women’s Championship but Kick, It Out chief Tony Burnett insists it must have teeth if it is going to prove effective.
“The club results for the Football Leadership Diversity Code are disappointing, but they are not wholly unexpected,” he said.
“In the process of setting up the code, we expressed concerns that if football wanted to drive change, it needed to be transparent about its whole workforce.
“Clubs were only willing to provide limited recruitment data and there were no sanctions for failing to comply.
“Now is the time to be bolder. The FA’s intention to make reporting of diversity data mandatory for all men’s and women’s clubs is a step in the right direction. We would urge the Premier League, EFL and all its 92 clubs to make that data transparent.
“But we also need sanctions for non-compliance and future diversity targets baked into FA, Premier League and EFL rules. Without that commitment, we won’t know the true scale of the challenge nor be able to find solutions to make football more representative of the people who love the game.”
The FLDC was established in October 2020 in a bid to tackle under-representation in the game, but Wednesday’s 2022-23 figures demonstrate clubs’ collective failure to meet any of the targets set.
Senior leadership hiring of black, Asian and mixed heritage candidates is set at 15 per cent, but clubs only achieved 9.1 per cent. In men’s clubs, the target for new coaching hires from a black, Asian or mixed heritage background was 25 per cent but clubs only managed 16 per cent.
For the first time clubs’ existing workforce data was included in the FLDC data published. It demonstrated that levels of diversity off the pitch fall well below the level in the playing population, and that hiring rates are currently not high enough to drive the rapid change needed.
Within the 53 club signatories, 21 per cent of senior leaders and 29 per cent of team operations are female and seven per cent of senior leaders and nine per cent of team operations are black, Asian or mixed heritage. Across the coaching workforce, 13 per cent of coaches and 11 per cent of senior coaches are black, Asian or mixed heritage.
Data from the Black Football Partnership published earlier this year showed 43 per cent of Premier League players and 34 per cent of Championship players were black.
Former Chelsea defender Paul Elliott, who was key to the FLDC’s creation three years ago, said on Wednesday: “Football wants the diversity off the field to match what we see on the field.
“While we have work to do to improve player diversity in the women’s game, diversity on the pitch in the men’s game is a given.
“Despite this, if we look at Europe’s top five leagues, there are only two black head coaches – one is Vincent Kompany at Burnley and the other is Patrick Vieira at Strasbourg.
“So the challenge is not just in the UK, it’s all across Europe, but I personally have a greater expectation of progress in the UK because of the diversity of our society.
“By evolving the code to mandatory reporting of workforce data, we can take a new approach with new transparency. It is a natural next step. I am pleased that the FA is leading on this topic and embedding it in the rules of the game; that will help to accelerate progress and the growth we need.”
Kick It Out wants football’s new independent regulator to oversee equality standards as part of a code of football governance and to compel clubs to share representation and recruitment data.
Currently, clubs in the Premier League are independently evaluated under the league’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion standard (PLEDIS), while the EFL’s Equality Code of Practice assesses work, learning, development and commitment to EDI and provides a grade of bronze, silver or gold after review.
Howe taking plenty of positives despite frustrating Newcastle campaign
Eddie Howe was keen to look at the positives after Newcastle United secured seventh place in the Premier League on Sunday.
Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes were among the goalscorers as Newcastle won 4-2 at Brentford to finish their Premier League campaign.
The victory ensured a seventh-place finish, and a Manchester City victory over Manchester United in next Saturday's FA Cup final will confirm Newcastle's place in next season's Europa Conference League.
While this season did not quite live up to the heroics of last term, which saw the Magpies finish in the Champions League spots, Howe still feels it has been a successful campaign.
"It summed up our season," Howe told BBC Sport. "We weren't totally secure at the back, but great credit to the players. They've done their job - now we wait and see.
"We anticipated after losing against Manchester United that our control of the [European] situation had gone. It's never a nice situation, but whatever happens, happens.
"We have issues to solve defensively. If we can do that, next season could be another season of really strong performances. This was a season that could have been better, but a good season overall.
"We're a really united club. I think we're still moving forward, so there's a lot to be positive about."
Postecoglou will not settle until Tottenham hit his 'lofty ambitions'
Ange Postecoglou warned Tottenham he will not settle until the club hits the "lofty ambitions" targeted in his mind.
Spurs were 3-0 victors over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Sunday, ending their Premier League season with a convincing win to finish fifth in the table.
Postecoglou voiced his frustrations after Tuesday's 2-0 defeat to Manchester City ended their hopes of Champions League football next term.
The Spurs head coach was far more relaxed after his side performed well in Sheffield, with Dejan Kulusevski twice on target, along with a goal for Pedro Porro against the relegated Blades.
Yet Postecoglou insisted his ambitions remain high as the Australian attempts to take Tottenham to the next level.
"Contrary to my general demeanour, I have loved every minute of it," former Celtic boss Postecoglou said of his first season in charge of Tottenham.
"It is a great challenge in the Premier League and taking over a big club that didn't have a great year last year. You understand it is not going to run smoothly, but I have enjoyed the whole season.
"I have got some lofty ambitions for the football club and until we reach that point I am not going to be smiling too much.
"As I said, all any manager wants is maximum effort and I have got that from everyone involved. I have enjoyed it and looking forward to pushing on from here."
Asked to summarise his first campaign in England's top league, Postecoglou continued: "It's been good, it's been eventful, it's had a bit of everything.
"I am obviously not delighted with the way we finished the season but in fairness to the players and staff we have been in the top five all season, in a year where there was a fair bit of upheaval.
"We finished eighth last year, player turnover, different football, different way of training, it is not easy to maintain a level when you are trying to do that.
"Even in our tough periods this year we have still been competitive for the most part."
Kulusevski scored his seventh and eighth Premier League goals of the season (36 outings), more than he managed in his first two league campaigns with Tottenham combined (seven across 48 games).
Only in the 2019-20 season with Parma has the Sweden winger scored more times in a league season (10 in Serie A), and Postecoglou hailed Kulusevski's returns.
He added: "I thought Deki was good. He's worked awfully hard this year without a lot of reward in the front third.
"We thought playing him through middle today would help us with his mobility and ability to run in behind. He did well.
"He always works hard but it's that sort of final third where we need him to get rewards and he got them today so he did well."
Al-Nassr 1-1 Al-Hilal: Mitrovic scores last-gasp penalty
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a penalty in the 10th minute of second-half stoppage time as Al-Hilal denied Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr victory in a 1-1 draw.
Mitrovic netted his 27th Saudi Pro League goal of the campaign after Sadio Mane was harshly judged to have fouled Saud Abdulhamid in the area.
Mane stuck out an arm to shield the ball, catching his opponent in the throat, though the contact appeared to have been outside of the box.
Mitrovic made no mistake to keep Al-Hilal's unbeaten campaign going.
The Serbian's spot-kick cancelled out Otavio's first-minute opener, with Ronaldo having set up his compatriot.
Champions Al-Hilal remain 12 points clear of Al-Nassr at the summit of the Pro League standings.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo the provider
Ronaldo leads the scoring charts in Saudi Arabia this season, though he had to settle for an assist on Friday.
That came from the only chance he created, with the 39-year-old limited to 25 touches, though he did have four shots.
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