Tackle racism with greater representation in boardrooms

But there are very few others.

Racism is at the top of the agenda and needs to stay there. Players are speaking out, incidents are being reported, action is being discussed and debated.

It was a horrible weekend, with a Brentford season-ticket holder arrested after Derby County midfielder Duane Holmes was subjected to monkey chants and another man arrested, when he handed himself in, after an offensive social-media message was directed at Wigan Athletic’s Nathan Byrne. Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha retweeted a message calling him a “diving monkey” and Northampton Town players were allegedly racially abused outside a hotel in Nottingham, before their game against Notts County.

The English Football League was “saddened, disappointed and angered to hear further reports of alleged racism”. It added: “We cannot, and will not, accept this type of behaviour as we know our clubs won’t.”

There have been discussions over stronger punishments and more criminal prosecutions while there is debate as to what the players themselves should do: Should they walk off? Do they take matters into their own hands? Do the authorities impose points deductions and stadium closures and maybe even expulsion from competitions?

The issue is firmly in the public consciousness and, while there is the fear copycat racist episodes are taking place, there is also, hopefully, a clearer intent to report such incidents. However, there is a note of caution: we have been here before and after a wave of condemnation, awareness and reporting, little else has changed.

In saying that, it is important that more and more players do speak out. Raheem Sterling and Danny Rose have led the way.

Other black players need to speak out but so, too, do more white players – not just in solidarity but to express their feelings because, as Gareth Southgate and Pep Guardiola have said, it is a society issue.

But the biggest change needs to happen at the top. 

There needs to be an up-front conversation about the fact there are not enough black people, or people from ethnic minorities, in the building, around the table, in the boardroom, running football, making executive decisions. They are not being given roles of real power in the game and, yes, that stretches to the media and how football is spoken and written about.

But it is the governance and power-broking above all that matters. There will not be greater leadership across football until there is a more diverse outlook. The authorities want to sort out the racism problem but, without enough people with the right connections and experience in the room, that cannot happen with any sense of a lasting effect.

It is reflected from the top of the game through to the grass roots – where there is so little representation within the county FAs. There is also still just the one British chairman of a club, Ben Robinson at League One Burton Albion, who is from an African and Caribbean background.

The Football Association has just appointed another white man, Mark Bullingham, to succeed Martin Glenn as its new chief executive and by all accounts he is fully qualified and deserves the role. But there are vacancies at the Premier League, to still follow on from Richard Scudamore, the EFL, with Shaun Harvey leaving, and the PFA to eventually succeed Gordon Taylor as chief executive. 

No one expects a black appointment although, incidentally, Roberts, the former Wigan and Reading striker, would be ideal to take over at the PFA.

Less than one per cent of senior roles in the running of football clubs or the administration of the sport are held by someone from a BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) background, while England could easily field a team of black players.

The EFL has introduced the Rooney Rule, requiring clubs to interview at least one BAME candidate for all managerial and most coaching roles, but it has yet to have any meaningful effect and, again, it needs to be reflected in who is making the decisions, who is running the clubs and the sport.

So the biggest change will come when the executives and administrators in football, in sport, are more representative. When the boardrooms reflect that. It has been talked about for long enough and it is not as though there are not qualified candidates out there.

Ozil misfires off the pitch to add to inept display

So who was Mesut Ozil aiming his jacket at when he threw it during Sunday’s match at Goodison Park? Unai Emery, who had substituted him, or Everton’s Marco Silva, who was involved in a row with the Arsenal manager?

Whoever it was, why was he throwing something in the first place? Sure he was frustrated and hopefully not least because he delivered yet another unimpressive performance away from home – and on a day when he was given the captaincy. It was hardly a display that justified either that decision or the extraordinary salary Ozil is earning at Arsenal. 

It all seemed to be summed up by the fact Ozil missed – whoever he was trying to hit – as Arsenal tossed away the chance to go third.