Davids disagrees with racism rule

Former Dutch star Edgar Davids is against a plan to force Premier League clubs to interview minority groups for vacant coaching jobs.

There are only three black managers in charge of the 20 Premier and 72 Football League clubs and with racism continuing to cast a cloud over English football – there is a push to boost that number.

However it appears not everyone is in support of the move.

Now coach at English fourth-tier side Barnet, Davids insists it’s the coaches’ ability that should rule whether they get a job.

“I don’t like to talk about racism immediately. Because I think it’s very easy to say ‘Hey, listen, that’s unfair because it’s racism,” Davids said.

“I First, you have to look at yourself, do I qualify? Do I have the ambition? That is the first thing you have to look at. And then you have to say – is it racism or not? Because you have to be really careful to say or accuse someone of racism.

“Because it’s sometimes that you don’t like someone as a person, not because you’re black, white or Chinese, but because you don’t like the person. So you talk about racism, but it’s more about how you feel with that person,” he said.

Davids also insisted it’s time for the governing bodies to come down hard on any instances of racism.

“I think that, not only in England, but also in the governing body, there is a problem,” he said.

“And if you don’t act adequately and determined to certain causes, it’s going to get out of hand. If you look at the last game with the England under 21’s, it’s unacceptable. There has to be a severe punishment to clubs or countries that have those things.

“It’s difficult to punish certain people because of lack of culture but we still have to find a solution.

“Sometimes you have to act hard and swift, in certain cases it has happened and certain cases it didn’t. That is why we really have to work on it,” Davids said.