Will Sullivan be hammered for backing Britain?

Originally published07/06/2011

Showing discrimination can creep up and hit the most progressive thinking bosses round the back of the head if they don’t watch their words as well as their actions.

A good example is some candid end of season comments by David Sullivan, co-owner of relegated premier league soccer club West Ham United.

The club’s fan may sing of blowing bubbles, but Sullivan was frothing at the mouth when outlining his requirements for a new manager.

Less than an hour after relegation, the club sacked Israeli manager Avram Grant.

Around 48 hours later, Sullivan was speaking about the search for a new manager on Sky Sports.

He told the reporter that the club will ‘definitely get a British manager, whether he is English, Scottish or Welsh makes no difference. he will be home grown.”

The problem is the undertones of that message in the context of discrimination law.

Sullivan probably did not think through what he was saying and gave a quick reply to a question that caught him off guard.

In his favour, Sullivan and his club co-owner David Gold recruited Karren Brady as football’s first women managing director of a football club when Sullivan and Gold headhunted when they were at Birmingham City.

One interpretation of his message could be that West Ham will not favourably treat applicants for the manager’s post who are from outside the UK.

Nationality is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act, which means this could lead to a charge of the club unfairly discriminating against job applicants, unless the club can prove employing an applicant born in the UK is an occupational requirement and applying that requirement is proportionate.

The thinking behind Sullivan’s remarks looks at odds with reality as well – bearing in mind the success ratios of UK and overseas managers in the premier league.

The context is the English premier league is probably the world’s richest and most watched worldwide.

West Ham’s relegation team, around half of the 44 squad players came from overseas.

Teams managed by overseas managers have won the league five out of the last 10 seasons, while four of the five teams struggling against relegation this season had British managers.

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