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Former Chelsea forward Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink believes aspiring black managers are not taking their coaching badges because they do not believe they are given \u2018a fair chance\u2019.<\/p>\n
The ex-Netherlands international has reunited with former Middlesbrough team-mate Gareth Southgate earlier this year when he joined the England boss\u2019 staff in March ahead of the Euro 2024 qualification campaign.<\/p>\n
Burnley\u2019s promotion to the Premier League ensured the top flight would have one black manager this season \u2013 Vincent Kompany \u2013 but once again highlighted the disparity between the number of black players and bosses, a problem that extends beyond the pitch.<\/p>\n
Asked on the latest episode of the Matt Haycox Show podcast, to be released on Wednesday, if football was moving in the right direction, Hasselbaink said: \u201cThe only thing that I can say is I have applied for a lot of jobs, and the majority I didn\u2019t get an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy? I don\u2019t know. I can only tell you I didn\u2019t get an interview, and I only want to get a job because they think that I\u2019m the right person for the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I do know that a lot of black ex-players don\u2019t want to go and take their coaching badges because they think that we don\u2019t get a fair chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can only give you an answer of my experience, and my experience is that I don\u2019t get interviewed.\u201d<\/p>\n
I do know that a lot of black ex-players don’t want to go and take their coaching badges because they think that we don’t get a fair chance<\/p>\n
Hasselbaink\u2019s managerial career started at League Two Burton in 2014 and also took in Championship QPR and League One Northampton, before his second stint with the Brewers ended with his resignation last year.<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cI was always told, \u2018Jimmy, start in League Two, and start small, do well, and then you will get an opportunity\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, other players who are white, who have more or less a name like mine, they don\u2019t have to do that. So, that is my fact.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatrick Vieira would say the same. Thierry Henry would say the same. Sol Campbell would say the same. Those are the facts, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season saw Vieira sacked at Crystal Palace and Hope Powell dismissed by Women\u2019s Super League Brighton, leaving both the English men\u2019s and women\u2019s top flights without a black manager until Kompany steered the Clarets to promotion.<\/p>\n
And a January 2023 paper commissioned by the Black Footballers Partnership revealed that while black athletes comprised 43% of players in the Premier League and 34% in the EFL in 2021, black employees accounted for just 4.4 per cent of those occupying management-related positions in football clubs the following year.<\/p>\n
Hasselbaink told entrepreneur and investor Haycox: \u201cI know there\u2019s a lot of black managers that want to be coaches, but they have to put bread on the table as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need to make a living and they\u2019re thinking \u2018I need to do something that is going to feed my kids, and if I\u2019m not going to get a chance, why pursue this?\u2019<\/p>\n
While Hasselbaink believes some prominent football figures could be stronger allies for black players hoping to pursue leadership roles, he has nothing but praise for Southgate, his former captain at Middlesbrough, who brought the 51-year-old into the England fold after a chance meeting.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cHe believes in me, and he gives me the chance to be with him and to help the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlack or white, Gareth doesn\u2019t look at me like that. And I know that, because I\u2019ve played with him for two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cGareth was always around everybody. He was with the white guys, he was with the black guys. He was joking with all of us, and he was tough on all of us as a captain when he needed to be, regardless of our backgrounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking with the best talent in the country,\u00a0seeing them flying over the pitch, and seeing that group together is magnificent.\u201d<\/p>\n