BAMBA’S ALL SET TO BLAZE A TRAIL FOR BAME BOSSES
IN football there are players who instantly stand out as the ones who will graduate to management. Sol Bamba is one of those. It is understood the Bluebirds favourite has been earmarked for a coaching role at the club when he hangs up his boots, whenever that might be, as he takes his first tentative steps on the pathway to management.
He has undertaken his UEFA A Licence, the badge which permits managers to take charge of second-tier clubs, and is looking forward to the next stage of his career, although he is quick to point out he has one more year on his Cardiff City playing contract.
But it’s not as simple as that. At present, only six of the 91 Premier League and EFL managers or head coaches are BAME. There are just two in England’s top two tiers – Nuno Espirito Santo, the Wolves manager who hails from Portugal, and Sabri Lamouchi at Nottingham Forest, who is from France with Tunisian parentage.
Following the death of George Floyd, we have seen the Black Lives Matter movement sweep the world.
It has received huge backing in the media, sport and in football more specifically, with the introduction of players and staff taking the knee before each game gets under way.
While this is a step in the right direction, there is also recognition this must not be a flash in the pan, that this is not just a social media trend but must be a driver for real change.
Cardiff’s Nathaniel Mendez-Laing recently had words to that effect tattooed on his leg.
But the paltry numbers of BAME managers currently employed in the EFL and Premier League suggest there is a long way to go.
Those figures alone could be offputting to any prospective BAME manager, but Bamba believes there is no better time than now to redress the balance.
When asked if he was discouraged by the lack of black managers within the game, Bamba replied: “No, not at all.
“I actually think if you want to break that (barrier) then we need to do it.
“I’ve been talking to a few other expros who have been saying, ‘Oh, I won’t do it, I won’t get an interview’, but if that’s the mindset you’ve got then we have got no chance and there will never be any black or BAME managers.
“And I think that’s the problem. “I know the pathway has to be better, but I do think we need to do more and forget about the mindset of, ‘Oh I’m not going to get an interview’, because it takes time. Everything takes time.
“We have seen a change with the Black Lives Matter movement, but it will take time.
“So I am definitely not put off by it,
I’m just going to do my thing and hopefully I am going to have a chance one day to do it.”
At the end of June, the Premier League, EFL and Professional Footballers’ Association announced a scheme to help BAME players move into full-time coaching roles in the professional game.
The initiative, which starts next season, will offer six coaches per campaign a 23-month placement at EFL clubs.
“This is a critical time for black, Asian and minority ethnic coaches,” said Doncaster Rovers manager Darren Moore, who is chair of the Premier League’s black participants’ advisory group, at the time of the announcement.
“We all know and agree that the diversity of coaches and managers must increase and this placement scheme represents a positive step.”
Bamba has worked with the Bluebirds’ youth set-up over the last 12 months, imparting his wisdom to the club’s under-23s as he worked his way back to full fitness from a serious knee injury.
The Ivory Coast international has invaluable knowledge to pass on to the next generation and Bamba is widely tipped to become an astute manager.
There is a fierce desire within Bamba to make his mark in management.
In his view, he is adamant there will be no glass ceiling in the next stage of his career.
“I would probably punch through it,” he said.