England’s first black footballer fears he will never see a black England manager

England’s first black footballer, former Nottingham Forest and Arsenal defender Viv Anderson, fears he will never see a black England manager.

There is a scarcity of Black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic background (BAME) managers in English football and Anderson does not expect the situation to change any time soon.

Nottingham Forest’s Nuno Espirito Santo and Port Vale’s Darren Moore are the only two BAME managers in the top four divisions of the English game.

There has never been a black England manager and Anderson, 68, says there is ‘absolutely no chance’ that will change in his lifetime.

Thomas Tuchel was handed the reins by England at the start of the year after Sir Gareth Southgate resigned following eight years in the job.

‘A black England manager? If we do, it won’t be in my lifetime,’ Anderson told the Daily Mirror. ‘There’s absolutely no chance.

‘In fact, it’s not really worth talking about until we see a few black managers in the Premier League.

‘It’s over 30 years since I was player-manager at Barnsley. I think Keith Alexander at Lincoln was the only other black manager in the English game.

‘One newspaper article said it was the start of a new generation. But nothing has changed.

‘The only English-born black manager in all four divisions is Darren Moore. How can that be, when so many black players have played the game at the highest level over the last 50 years?

‘When I was a kid kicking a ball about in Nottingham, I wanted to be Clyde Best, the West Ham striker, because he was the only black face I saw on TV playing football. Who’s the managerial equivalent of Clyde?’

Anderson became the first black footballer to play for England when he made his international debut in 1978. He went on to earn 30 caps for the Three Lions, as well as making almost 600 club appearances.

The former right-back believes a lack of diversity in boardrooms is the main reason black managers are overlooked for jobs in English football.

‘Most football clubs are owned by millionaires and billionaires,’ Anderson added. ‘How many of them are black? How many of them will even have black friends?

‘Name an executive who’s black. I can only think of Les Ferdinand, who spent a few years as QPR’s director of football.

‘I’ve been invited to England’s game against Latvia. I’ll watch [Jude] Bellingham, [Kyle] Walker and [Marcus] Rashford – and when I walk into the lounge at half-time I’ll be surrounded by white men, most of them aged 65 and over. These people run the game. 

‘Every team has black players. But the people in charge, the ones who hold the power, are all white. Until that changes then nothing changes.

‘I remember the Football League implementing a version of the NFL’s ‘Rooney Rule’ a few years ago so that clubs were forced to interview black candidates for coaching roles.

‘Is it still in place? I’m being serious. I honestly don’t know if it’s still a thing. If it is, then it isn’t working.’

The FA intends to make 30 per cent of the England men’s coaching staff BAME by 2028.

Former Antigua and Barbuda international Justin Cochrane was added to Tuchel’s coaching staff earlier this year.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink spent over a year as an England coach under Southgate before the ex-Three Lions manager resigned following Euro 2024.

Earlier this month, ex-Premier League striker Jermain Defoe reiterated his managerial ambitions.

‘Of course I’m ready,’ he said. ‘I’ve done the ‘apprenticeship’ if you like, did the two years in the academy.

‘I just feel like, what more do I need to do? You do your coaching badges, you do your B Licence, A Licence, you do the pro licence, you coach the academies and that sort of stuff.

‘Having that experience, doing the courses and doing the two years in the academy at Tottenham, making mistakes, doing things behind the cameras, I’m ready.’

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