Can football lead the charge for racial equality?

Nick Clegg said that football in this country allows many black players to become stars on the pitch despite very few to making it through to management or administration.

There are no black managers in the Premier League and in the lower leagues there are only two: Chris Hughton at Birmingham City and Chris Powell of Charlton Athletic.

The sport is typical of private-sector industries across the country, where ethnic minorities still face hurdles to achieving the level of success their white counterparts enjoy, Mr Clegg said

The Deputy Prime Minister’s own party, the Liberal Democrats, has no ethnic minority MPs.

But Nick Clegg called for moves to promote “economic opportunity” for ethnic minorities, urging private businesses to make the same progress as the public sector in offering equal opportunities to black people.

In sport, like in so many other worlds, we have moved forward, but the ceilings still remain across so many professions. Nick Clegg

In a speech in south London to mark 30 years since the Brixton riots, Mr Clegg said: “In football, fans adore their heroes for their talent and character, whether they are black or white, and when Sepp Blatter dares trivialise racism on the pitch, his comments are rightly met with public outcry.

“But how many black managers are there in the Premier League? Zero.

“And in the top four divisions? There are just two, despite the fact a quarter of all players are black.

“In sport, like in so many other worlds, we have moved forward, but the ceilings still remain across so many professions.”

‘Kick it out’ campaigns against racism in football.

Chair Lord Herman Ouseley told Channel 4 News it will take time to change: “Owners of clubs, directors – it’s these key decision-makers that can really make it happen.

“It needs to be accepted that the wider the pool of talent you choose from, the more likely it is you will find success.”

‘Failing to make progress’

Nick Clegg will also accuse private companies of failing to make the same progress as the public sector in delivering equal opportunities since Lord Scarman’s report into the discrimination which fuelled the 1981 riots.

While ethnic minority men in the public sector earn slightly more than their white colleagues, in the private sector a black man earns just 89p for every pound earned by a white man, he will say.

While 35 per cent of people from black African backgrounds say they want to start up a business, only 6 per cent are successful in doing so.

And firms owned by people of black African origin are four times more likely to be denied loans than white-owned companies, while those owned by people from Bangladeshi, Pakistani and West Indian backgrounds have been subject to higher interest rates.

Declaring that “we need to rebalance our economy along racial lines”, Mr Clegg will announce plans to look at problems which ethnic minority entrepreneurs experience in securing bank loans and building up their businesses.