Rooney Rule: Back our Open Goal campaign to encourage more ethnic minority managers in England

Chief Sports Writer Oliver Holt's column this week opened up a lively debate about the failure of English football to employ black former players as managers .

The Mirror and MirrorFootball today launches its Open Goal campaign, urging the game to mimic American Football’s Rooney Rule. This makes it compulsory for at least one ethnic minority candidate to be interviewed when a head coach post is vacant. The club still chooses a preferred candidate, but everyone gets a chance to impress.

Here are the six steps needed to ensure English football attracts a higher proportion of ethnic minority managers. And below you'll find links to a wealth of Rooney Rule opinions that show exactly why this change is needed.

1) ENCOURAGEMENT
Players to take coaching badges believing they will get a chance to use it

2) EQUALITY
Chairmen and boards throughout the football pyramid to give black former players the same opportunities as their white counter-parts

3) LEGISLATE
The FA to adopy a British version of the Rooney Rule, meaning enthic minority candidates are always interviewed for vacant jobs, but it does not oblige clubs to employ them.

4) LEADERSHIP
The FA to take a lead, appointing black coaches to the England senior and under-21 managerial staff.

5) PATIENCE
Just because a manager fails once, that doesn’t mean he is not up to the task. Plenty of big-name bosses, from Bobby Robson onwards, flopped in their first jobs but learned and improved.

6) KNOWLEDGE
League Manager’s Association to circulate names of potential candidates when vacancies occur

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More on the Rooney Rule
Rooney Rule: Prem boss Scudamore will consider introducing positive discrimination

Rooney Rule: The system is broken and it needs to be fixed NOW, by Oliver Holt  

Rooney Rule: England facing 'lost generation' of potential managers, says Andrew Cole  

Warnock: Racism is NOT holding back black coaches in English football