Whilst huge strides have been made towards ensuring equity in the game in this country, with The FA leading through its Football for All programme, yesterday’s ‘Living for the Inner City’ Conference at Chelsea Football Club highlighted how coaches from ethnic minority communities are still encountering barriers as they strive to climb the coaching ladder.

In a country now as multi-cultural as England, it was sobering to hear the stories of Ricky Hill and Chris Ramsey, two highly respected black ex-players.

Hill was capped by England as a cultured midfielder whilst at Luton Town, and Ramsey played for Brighton & Hove Albion in the 1983 FA Cup Final.

Having taken their coaching badges, the two friends teamed up at Kenilworth Road in 2002 as a new managerial duo, but within four months, both men had been relieved of their duties.

Feeling that they hadn't been given enough time to turn the club around, both men applied for vacancies at other clubs, but despite their playing and coaching qualifications, the phone didn’t ring.

Said Hill: “Since leaving Luton I have not had an opportunity anywhere else in this country, but have maintained my involvement with stints overseas.

“Some clubs, even at Non-League level have not even responded to my letters, and I am convinced that black managers are not given the same opportunities.

“I keep learning, keep training and believe that my experience and skills would benefit a club, whether it be working with young players or the first team.”

Ramsey meanwhile has just returned from coaching in America to work at Tottenham’s Academy, and urged English clubs to look at the ‘credentials’ of coaches, and not their ethnicity.

The man charged with encouraging more ethnic minority coaches and players in the professional ranks to take their qualifications is former Arsenal midfielder Paul Davis.

Davis is now the Assistant to Paul Gascoigne at Kettering Town, but also holds the post of Football Development Officer at the PFA.

Kevin Campbell, Andy Cole, Paul Ince, Chris Powell, Shaka Hislop and Les Ferdinand have all taken the first steps towards a coaching career under Davis, with a number of Premier League clubs such as West Ham, Manchester City and Newcastle United requesting ‘in-house’ coaching sessions for players from the PFA in recent months.

Davis believes the mandatory coaching qualifications now required by the Premier League has put an end to ‘old boys networks’, and that despite qualifications not guaranteeing jobs, they are still the best way for former players to get a foothold in the game.

Davis is committed to ensuring clubs provide equality of opportunity, and is keen to see The Football League also introduce mandatory coaching qualification requirements, where clubs will be obligated to give managerial roles to ‘the most qualified candidate for the job’, with open and transparent recruitment processes employed for every position.

The work being done by the Football Authorities to put Diversity issues high on the agenda, is having a positive effect, and Davis told TheFA.com how this manifested itself at a session at West Ham recently.

"When players from my peer group were coming to the end of their playing days, many didn't consider coaching as they felt it was a closed-shop to black players" he said.

"I recently held a session though at West Ham, and seeing what I had achieved, players like Anton Ferdinand and Nigel Reo-Coker came up to me at the end and asked how they could maybe start their badges, even though they are only just starting out in the game.

"If players of that age feel that black coaches are being given a fair crack of the whip, then hopefully we'll see even more black coaches coming into the game over the next five to ten years."

Creating partnerships, focusing on coach education and the mentoring of black and ethnic minority coaches were all recurring themes put forward yesterday, and The FA is keen to hear from you.

How can The FA support the wider representation of ethnic minority communities in the game?

You can email your thoughts to: Jenny.Dainton@TheFA.com or Koye.Sowemimo@TheFA.com  and all suggestions will be forwarded to The FA’s Ethics and Sports Equity department.