‘I’ve been told to cut my hair’: Gifton Noel-Williams on the barriers facing black football managers

Gifton Noel-Williams in north London last week. ‘The same managers who get relegated get another job,’ he says. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Observer

Gifton Noel-Williams is wearing his hair up. He does not normally. But as an aspiring black manager he is hyper-conscious of bias, be it unconscious or otherwise. “I’ve been told before to cut my hair, to take my gold tooth out and maybe someone will take me seriously,” he says.

Of the Premier League’s eight permanent black managers since its inception 31 years ago, only Ruud Gullit had long hair. “I don’t really see what that’s got to do with what’s happening in the changing room, or playing or coaching my team,” continues Noel-Williams, who played in the top flight for Watford.