Racial Disparities in Managerial Career Progression

Abstract
We track the post-playing careers of all professional football players who were active in the English top 4 divisions between 1990 and 2010 and ended their playing career by 2013. Out of 4770 individual players, we identify 837 (18%) as Black (or of mixed Black heritage). Around 2% of Black former players eventually obtain a role as first team manager, whereas 9% of the non-Black former players progress to this level. Black former players face three significant impediments in their career progress: lower recruitment rates in junior managerial roles, reduced progression from junior to senior management, and a higher dismissal rate when in senior management. We document the importance of each of these in our sample. We also find that on-field achievements as a player do not alleviate these impediments for Black former players. Joint work with Thomas Peeters (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Stefan Szymanski (University of Michigan).