Kick It Out campaigner Troy Townsend has hit out at Brighton after their ‘shabby’ sacking of Chris Hughton left Nuno Espirito Santo as the only BAME manager in the Premier League.
Hughton was axed a day after the end of a season which finished with Brighton one place above the drop zone.
The Seagulls explained their reasoning for axing the popular manager, and plenty of Brighton fans endorsed the move.
But the decision has left Townsend questioning whether the game really cares about lack of representation among managers.
“We are now at worse than square one,” Townsend told The Telegraph. “People took my words out of context when Darren Moore was sacked. What people don’t understand is the real difficulties for black managers getting through the bottle neck at the top of football. We are talking about measly numbers.”
“To do this less than 24 hours after the last game is just staggering. If a player had left at this stage, walked out on the club, people would be in uproar. It’s so shabby. What are the expectations of Brighton? Surely it is to stay in the league. You are fourth from bottom and you have got to an FA Cup semi-final. I don’t get it.
“They must have been planning it for some time. Look at how Chris has been treated at Newcastle and Norwich and now Brighton? Being nice is his nature, but I know behind closed doors he is a different guy, he knows how to get his teams going. He has given Brighton another year of Premier League football and he gets repaid like this? Really?”
“These sackings have a huge impact as they are role models. Chris was a number two everywhere, then he branched out and finally got a long overdue chance. The way he carries himself, the way he speaks, he knows he has a wave of people under him who want to be like him.
“I’m really not sure what more he could have done for Brighton. Two more wins, would that have saved him? But do I think people care about lack of representation? Does this game really care? To be completely honest, I don’t know.
“Chris is very attached to the League Managers’ Association but does the rest of the game truly honestly care about him and Darren? I don’t know. Here we are talking about this same c*** yet again.”