Tyrone Mings: A black FA chairman would be a ‘huge step... but what we’re asking for is equal opportunities’

Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP11 November 2020

Tyrone Mings says it would be a “huge step” if the next Football Association chairman were black but David Bernstein, who held the role between 2010 and 2012, has warned that Greg Clarke’s successor is “set up to fail” without reform of the game.

Clarke, 63, resigned as FA chairman on Tuesday night after a disastrous appearance in front of MPs in which he referred to “coloured footballers” and “Asians working in IT”. 

A panel is set to choose his successor and England centre-half Mings says it would be a significant landmark for equality to appoint a black man or woman.

“Of course, it would be a huge step,” said the Aston Villa player. “It would be everything that a lot of people have worked for, a lot of people more senior than myself, a lot of people who have been fighting for this cause for a lot longer than myself.

"But ultimately that isn’t what we’re asking for. We’re not necessarily asking for the next chairman or chief [executive] to be black. What we’re asking for is equal opportunities for black and white people, or ethnic minorities.”

The FA’s new Football Leadership Diversity Code, which Mings helped to compose with former Chelsea defender Paul Elliott, requires clubs to shortlist at least one male and one female Black, Asian or of Mixed-Heritage candidate for open positions, provided applicants who meet the job specifications apply.

The potential candidates to succeed Clarke from within the game include Elliott, who chairs the FA’s Inclusion Advisory Board, Bobby Barnes, the highly-respected deputy CEO of the PFA, QPR’s director of football Les Ferdinand and ex-Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand.

But Bernstein, one of a succession of middle-aged white men to previously hold the position, has warned that the chairmanship is a poison chalice without independent regulation of the national game.

David Bernstein believes the next FA chairman is set up for failure without major reform
Getty Images

“Whoever is appointed is set up to fail unless there is fundamental change of the organisation itself,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“We have to have an independent regulator come in and make serious change, not just in the FA but right across football, dealing with financial stress that is in the game, governance issues and the fact there is no real leadership in football at all. It does not speak with a united voice.

“So this is an opportunity for the Government to get behind the appointment of a regulator and very quickly make the serious change to the way football is governed.”

Facing questions from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on Tuesday, Clarke also referred to gay footballers as having made a “life choice”.

Pushed by Kevin Brennan, MP, to apologise for using the term “coloured”, Clarke did so but within hours he had resigned.

Clarke apologised to the same select committee three years ago when he described concerns about institutional racism within the FA as “fluff”.

“It was an extraordinary thing to hear in this day and age for someone leading a major organisation,” added Bernstein.

“One of the questions one has got to ask, is what does it mean about the organisation itself?”

Dame Heather Rabbatts believes leadership in football must be more diverse
Getty Images

Gary Lineker on Wednesday morning echoed Bernstein’s calls for elite football to speak with a united voice and said there are too many “old white men like me” running the game.

The former England captain also ruled himself out of the running for the job, telling Good Morning Britain: “I’m not a great organiser. I don’t think I’d be very good at that role.”

Dame Heather Rabbatts, who is Jamaican-born and the first woman to be appointed to the FA board, said the leadership of the game had to be more diverse.

“Bar one board I have never sat on a board with another black person,” she told BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme. “I find that shocking.

Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend has stressed the need for all generations to be educated
Getty Images

“Greg Clarke’s comments reveal the fault line in football which is that the leadership of football is still controlled by white men and this has to change.”

Both Mings and Andros Townsend, the ex-England winger who plays for Crystal Palace, said education for all generations was crucial for change.

“You can’t sit there and say Greg Clarke is a racist, he is just uneducated,” Townsend told ITV. “His era, those sort of terminologies were acceptable.

“We need to educate not only the youth but people in today’s society who were in a previous society with different ways of speaking.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in