Ryan Bertrand reveals rare ambition to become a director of football
Ryan Bertrand has revealed he is planning for a future career in football not on the training pitches as a coach but in the boardroom at executive level.
A player outwardly stating such an ambition is almost unheard of but the Southampton and England full-back, 30, has a passion for business, which started when as a child he accompanied his mother to work at investment bank Morgan Stanley. He now trades himself and has a tech start-up business.
A move into the boardroom would also be almost unprecedented for a player from a Black, Asian or ethnic minority (BAME) background. QPR‘s Les Ferdinand is the only director of football in the English professional game who is from a BAME background. There are none in the Premier League. Michael Emenalo was technical director at Chelsea but he left the club three years ago.
Southampton full-back Ryan Bertrand wants to be a director of football one day in future
‘It mixes a bit of business with my sport and they’re both my passions,’ Bertrand told Sky Sports. ‘Having the responsibility to say, “Yes, I chose these players, I chose them to perform well”, and working with a manager and business owner to get the right consistency and the footballing model that’s successful on the field, I would take a lot of pride in that.’
The disparity in the BAME presence between the playing and coaching ranks is stark. More than 30 per cent of Premier League players are from a BAME background, yet the figure for coaches is around five per cent. There are only six BAME managers at 91 League clubs. The lack of BAME representation in football boardrooms is even worse.
Bertrand said that there needs to be more BAME executives in top-level football and, while he has not felt his race would be a barrier to his future career, he also urged football to fight against any element or racism or subconscious bias that prevents BAME people entering the boardroom.
QPR’s Les Ferdinand (centre right) is the only director of football from a BAME background currently at the top level of English football, and Bertrand wants to change that directly
‘It’s an ambition of mine and the race thing hasn’t played on my mind, I haven’t thought of it like that,’ said Bertrand.
‘But if there have been black people that have tried to get into a hierarchy of sports and felt resistance, I think it is important that it is spoken of and that’s how you can create the gateway to producing more black executives within the game.
‘We need to concentrate on making sure the openings are there. No one wants anything for free but at the same time we need to make sure the playing field is level and there isn’t a subconscious bias or an element of racism that’s preferring people when other people are more than capable of doing the job.’
Ferdinand has previously asserted that football has a ‘massive unconscious bias’ against BAME executives, saying he was only able to break through because his chairman, Tony Fernandes, who is Malaysian, is himself from a BAME background.
‘I’m not sure I would have been given the opportunity if it was not for an ethnic minority board,’ Ferdinand told the Training Ground Guru Podcast last year.
‘It’s an old establishment we’re working under. Football, for a long time, has been people employing their mates. People talk about the old boys’ club, and that’s what football has been.
‘Black executives didn’t see it as an industry they could perform in, in the same way that as a young boy I didn’t see football as an arena I could go and ply my trade in, until I saw the likes of Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson playing on a regular basis for West Brom.
‘Up until then, football wasn’t an industry I thought I could have a career in. There is a massive unconscious bias. But we keep bringing this back to football; this is not just football, this is society, and society does not allow BAME representatives to climb the ladder.’
The England defender has a passion for business, and trades and owns a tech start-up
Premier League players want their clubs to follow the FA’s lead by committing to having at least one Black, Asian or ethnic minority (BAME) coach on their first-team staff.
Sportsmail has learned that informal talks have been held between the FA and the Premier League over the proposal, which has the backing of many influential players.
Premier League clubs will replace names on shirts with ‘Black Lives Matter’ for the first round of fixtures after the resumption, starting on Wednesday.
