White Men Blocked From Applying for Jobs at Premier League Clubs

White men have been blocked from applying for jobs at Premier League football clubs.

A potential legal error by the world’s richest league has led to a number of teams – including Manchester United and Liverpool – recruiting for coaching roles open “only” to ethnic minorities and women.

Telegraph Sport has found current or recent online job adverts that risk falling foul of the Equality Act despite being part of a centrally-funded drive to combat a lack of diversity off the pitch in English football.

An expired ad for a 23-month youth coaching role with United that ends next month said: “Coaches who are currently under-represented within the English professional game – individuals from Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage backgrounds, including women from all backgrounds. This is a positive action scheme aimed at addressing under-represented groups in football coaching. Applications will only be accepted from individuals from those backgrounds.”

Another for a similar job at Liverpool said: “We will only consider coaches who are currently under-represented within the English professional game – individuals from Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage backgrounds, including women from all backgrounds.”

Wording of that nature has also appeared in adverts for equivalent roles at Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Everton, Newcastle United, West Ham United, Leicester City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Bournemouth, as well as former Premier League teams Leeds United and Norwich City.

Several of the clubs involved have told Telegraph Sport the ads were created using a template supplied by the Premier League, one they said had been updated and no longer explicitly prohibited white men from applying.

Ipswich Town and Fulham have both been running the latest version but have still faced accusations of “disgusting anti-white racism” from Rupert Lowe, the Independent MP for Great Yarmouth and former Southampton chairman.

Ipswich subsequently removed the ad, with sources telling Telegraph Sport they did so after determining it had been poorly worded. Liverpool are expected to run a similar ad imminently.

Telegraph Sport has been told the various advert templates were provided by the Premier League as part of what is known as the Coach Inclusion and Diversity Scheme (CIDS).

The world’s richest league says the scheme, launched four seasons ago, aims at “increasing the number of female coaches and male Black, Asian and mixed heritage coaches from a variety of backgrounds in full-time coaching positions in English professional football”.

The Premier League also says on its website that the scheme is open to Professional Football Association members at any level of the game but that “non-PFA members may also apply as long as they are a coach from a Black, Asian or mixed-heritage background, they have achieved a minimum coaching qualification of the UEFA B licence and have no previous full-time coaching experience in English professional football”.

Banning white men from applying for a job would appear to contravene “guidance on discriminatory adverts” published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

It reads: “It is not unlawful to address disadvantage or underrepresentation by encouraging groups who share a particular protected characteristic to apply for vacancies. This is called positive action. Positive action is lawful if it is reasonable to think that people with a particular protected characteristic are underrepresented or face disadvantage and the action taken will address this and is proportionate.

“If an employer wants to take positive action in this way, the advert should clearly state the employer is seeking applications from everyone but wishes to encourage applications from people with a particular protected characteristic on the basis that they are underrepresented or face disadvantage.

“Positive action in recruitment can only be used to make people from protected characteristic groups aware of recruitment opportunities and encourage them to apply for a job. It cannot be used to restrict the job opportunity to someone with a particular protected characteristic or result in an applicant being treated more favourably during the recruitment process because they have a protected characteristic. However, if the two best candidates for a job are equally qualified, the candidate from a disadvantaged or underrepresented group can be given preference for the job if this is a proportionate means of helping to address the disadvantage or increase the group’s participation.”

The EHRC, Premier League and the affected clubs have all been approached for comment.