Football needs Kick It Out’s independence, their fire and a determination to hold the authorities to account

WHATEVER the reasoning, the move by the Premier League to set up its own antidiscrimination campaign looks to be the beginning of the end for Kick It Out.

A decision that will leave the long-running group’s future hanging by a thread. A way forward likely to be interpreted as a step back.

The Premier League will argue that this is the “wholegame solution” that Kick It Out have been calling for.

They will insist, quite rightly, they can devote considerable finance to the fight against racism.

Football, however, needs Kick It Out’s independence. It needs their fire, intensity and determination to hold the authorities to account.

Of course, there is “No Room For Racism”. Of course, it is right that football in this country is seen to be doing something.

If the game wants to come together, however, it should do so to give Kick It Out MORE than the measly amount with which they’ve done so well to call out racism, since being set up by chairman Lord Herman Ouseley 25 years ago.

God knows the stakeholders can afford it.

Kick It Out is funded by the FA, the PFA, the Premier League and the EFL to the tune of just £500,000 a year. In a game awash with TV cash.

And what a time for the changes to be made – on the 25th anniversary of one of the hardest-working, important bodies in our sport.

Cynics will suggest they have struck with 74-year-old Lord Ouseley – who revealed his intention to step down last December – now out of the picture.

Ouseley (below) formed the organisation in 1993 when he was named the executive chairman of the Commission for

Racial Equality

(CRE).

Back then, he was able to threaten and invoke action against the authorities and clubs where it was evident racial discrimination was taking place.

On the surface, the game has improved. In reality, the dark, sinister elements that have never really gone away have come back to the surface.

Since his appointment, Ouseley has called out the lack of action from the game’s authorities, branding them “dysfunctional” and “lacking morality”. The FA, the Premier League and the PFA have all been in his crosshairs at some time or another for their handling of incidents involving race.

Now he has stepped down, the new way forward is coming into effect with almost indecent haste.

So much so that many clubs are unaware whether they are coming or going.

The mixed messages are understood to have left many waiting to see what others are doing. Some are choosing to promote their own material.

Whatever they decide, the reality is that the future message is likely to be worryingly sanitised going forward.

Premier League clubs and fans don’t like to be linked with the issue of racism. The banana thrown at Pierreemerick Aubameyang at Arsenal (right) was referred to as a missile. Some fans tried to claim the three Chelsea supporters abusing Raheem Sterling used the words “Manc c**t” instead of “Black c**t” (right).

Speaking about the Sterling incident, Ouseley told BBC Sport: “What happened at Chelsea shows what is still going on in football. We do not have any leadership at the top of the game to speak out, they just rely on Kick It Out.”

Let’s not kid ourselves, by bringing the anti-racism campaign in-house under one umbrella, the Premier League will be ensuring there are no longer any Lord Ouseleys, no loose cannons, nobody to accuse them of dragging their heels.

But the truth is that the game’s rulers must be continually held to account if it is to make the progress necessary for players and fans to enjoy it as one.