'Sacking Paul Ince would be setback in fight against discrimination'

Viv Anderson thinks if Paul Ince gets the sack it will be a huge setback in English football's fight against discrimination.

The Blackburn manager has been under enormous pressure following his club's dismal start to the season. Anderson, the first black player to play in a full England international 30 years ago, thinks the game has made big strides since he faced Czechoslovakia at Wembley in 1978.

Nowadays in England, the colour of a player's skin doesn't warrant so much as a passing mention - but it is a different story when it comes to coaching.

Anderson said of his ex-team-mate: "Paul should be given more time because he is a good young manager and a few months is not long to establish himself and his ideas.

"But I also believe he got the Blackburn job the hard way. Most ex-players of his stature wouldn't have had to start out at clubs like Swindon, Wycombe and MK Dons.

"It's not that they shouldn't - it's that they don't. Ninety-nine per cent of other top stars don't have to do that.

"There seems to be a mental block against appointing a top black player as manager of a top club. We need more black managers and coaches.

"Football is still an old pals' act, a closed shop where chairmen appoint managers they know and are comfortable with, and the managers choose their back-room staff."

Anderson (right) runs his own business after becoming disillusioned at the lack of opportunities to become a manager after eight years as assistant at Middlesbrough and a season before that as boss at Barnsley.

"I find it incredible Incey is the only black manager of a Premier League side and that you can count the others in the rest of the league on the fingers of one hand," he added.

"He became the first black England captain and being the only black boss in the top flight is a massive burden for him. I know about that because it was a burden when I became the first black player.

"The terrible thing is if he fails it will be looked on differently to, say, Roy Keane at Sunderland.

"You'll get people saying black people don't make good managers. Like they did after John Barnes left Celtic. But the chances of getting into management are few and far between."

Anderson is an ambassador for Kick It Out. See www.kickitout.org