Has Sol Campbell really not got a job in football management because of racism?
While it was very easy for most people, myself included, to balk at Sol Campbell’s comments about not being handed a managerial role last week, the former centre-back’s words did trigger a discussion that shouldn’t be ignored.
Has Campbell not been given a job in football management because he’s black?
At the moment, the only black or mixed race manager in the Premier League is Chris Hughton at Brighton. In the lower leagues, there are Marcus Bignot at Chester and Keith Curle at Carlisle United.
Other this this, football managers are overwhelmingly white and while the new Rooney Role, brought over from the US last year aims to give black people a chance during interviews for managerial roles, whether it’ll actually make a difference remains to be seen.
People piling in on Sol Campbell today. I think he's entitled to ask why he can't get an interview for a manager's job when a lot of players who played at the same time as him have. And before you reply: he has some eccentric opinions. Tony Adams, anyone?
— Mark Douglas (@MsiDouglas) February 22, 2018
Well done for pointing this out: All very well to have a laugh but Sol Campbell yet another, highly-experience black ex-player to whom the door to football management is closed. https://t.co/5NalQm3XZa
— Darren Lewis (@MirrorDarren) February 23, 2018
Sol in experienced and knows football. Therefore, you can understand why he was upset he didn’t get the Oxford United job. Especially when other former players, like Tony Adams, seem to be getting handed coaching roles left, right and centre, despite proving to actually be pretty bad at it.
Sol spoke about racism in football in his autobiography, which was released almost four years ago.
“I believe if I was white”, he said, “I would have been England captain for over 10 years.”
It’s likely that the 43-year-old feels the same way about management.
While there’s been an improvement in recent years, it’s hard to deny the lack of black people working at the top level in the sport.
It’s very easy for people to shrug off Sol’s comments as abrasive and arrogant because it’s easier than admitting he might actually have a right to feel annoyed.