Tuesday 28 March 2017 15:11, UK
Football Black List co-founder Leon Mann is confident the tide is turning as his organisation prepares to celebrate a forgotten black pioneer in English management.
The Black List initiative, founded in 2008, highlights the most influential individuals from the black community in football and in particular focuses on their achievements away from the pitch.
While more than 25 per cent of professional football players in the UK are black, there are presently only three black managers across the 92 Premier and Football League clubs but Mann believes the industry is now united in its quest to correct the imbalance.
Mann told Sky Sports News HQ: "When I started working in football 15 years ago there was more of a conversation about whether we had a problem. Today that's completely changed. The conversation now is what are the solutions.
"It's all about context. We only have three black managers and less than 1% representation across football boards.
"We're massively under-represented as a community if you consider the contribution that the African-Caribbean community make as players compared to their presence as decision makers, as people with power.
"We need to highlight those people in power to the next generation of BAME people to encourage them to be more involved. People like Heather Rabbats at the FA, Bobby Barnes, deputy chief executive of the PFA, Jason Roberts who's doing great things with the Sports People's Think Tank.
"Since 2008 we have celebrated about 150 role models. People like Jason Euell with the U23s at Charlton, Darren Moore on the coaching staff at West Brom, Steven Reid at Reading. They are bubbling under if you like and we hope they can come through and make their mark."
One of the role models being celebrated at a special event in London on the evening of March 28 is Tony Collins, the first black manager in England.
He was in charge of Rochdale for seven years in the 1960s and took the then Fourth Division side to the League Cup Final in 1961, where they lost 4-0 on aggregate to Second Division Norwich City.
Mann said: "He was the first black manager in British football. He is 91 so sadly cannot be with us tonight.
"I've given him an award on behalf of the black community on behalf of the football industry to thank him for his contribution to the game because he will be a role model to many of the aspiring black managers that came after him.
"The award is named in honour of Keith Alexander, another big supporter of the Football Black List, who sadly is no longer with us, so we will be thinking of him as well."
One star name happy to throw his weight behind Black List's lobbying work is Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure.
He said: "Of course there needs to be more black people involved in football, whether at CEO level or in management. For me it is important that we give this initiative our full backing.
"The future is our kids and if we want them to have a future in the game and to have more black people involved in the game then we must act now."
Find out about the Football Black List 2016, which celebrates the achievement of role models from the black community in the British game: http://footballblacklist.com
