Patrick Vieira believes English football may have to consider a quota system for black managers to counter a lack of “trust, belief and confidence” in coaches from minority backgrounds.
While 43 per cent of Premier League players are black, that does not translate into off-field roles, with a survey conducted in October showing that only four per cent of Premier League and EFL managers were black.
Vieira, who was appointed at Palace in July 2021 after spells at New York City and French club Nice, is the only black top-flight manager in England across the men’s and women’s game, a point he believes is “quite disturbing and difficult to understand.
While he believes a quota-based system will not ultimately cure the game’s diversity crisis, he does believe it could improve things in the short term.
“Looking at the number of minorities or black players we have and seeing how few are staying in the game is difficult to understand,” said Vieira, who was speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football summit.
“That (a quota) helped the NFL and US sport to move forward. There are more black coaches in the NBA and NFL but I don’t personally believe it is the right answer. You want to make a decision based on what you want as quality at your club for a…
