The Sports People’s Think Tank have released a report that states there has only been minimal progress for black and ethnic minority coaches in football since 2014.

According to the results of the SPTT’s research, only 22 of 482 coaching roles are held by BAME coaches, and only five of the 92 football league managers are black or from an ethnic minority.

As a result, the SPTT are recommending English football brings in the American “Rooney Rule”.

The rule, named after the owner of an American Football club, was brought in back in 2003, and states the one or more candidates for a senior coaching position must be from an ethnic minority. There is no obligation to hire the candidate, but the rule serves to help those who often have trouble even being called for interview to at least get their foot in the door.

The EFL piloted the scheme with academy roles last season, which saw 31% of BAME applications lead to an interview and 11 candidates eventually appointed to the 76 jobs (14%).

Of course, this percentage is still not representative of the population. Given only 4.6% of senior coaching roles are held by BAME coaches, 14% under the ‘Rooney Rule’ pilot is a decent increase, but it’s only a small step in the right direction with much more still needing to be done.