Back in October I took part in a panel discussion at the Battle of Ideas (http://www.battleofideas.org.uk/) at London's Barbican Centre. The event was titled: "What Makes a Great Sporting Leader?" And I was part of a panel of 5 speakers from the worlds of social commentary and journalism. Many aspects of this question interest me and it was a lively and high-quality debate among panellists approaching the question from diverse perspectives. The content was punctuated of course by many mentions of Alex Ferguson and Brian Clough, as I spoke to strongly advocate for better coach education and for the sport world to draw more widely on knowledge and learning from other sectors on the leadership issue, for example the arts and the military. I argued that some people are 'natural' leaders who are predisposed to effective leadership behaviours, but I am adamant that leadership skills can be learned, as with any other skill, we just need to get better at teaching them, because we have a singular dearth of home-grown great sporting leaders in the UK.

The subject matter interests me on numerous levels, as I have a background in coaching and an interest in psychology, but it is an especially relevant question in the light of recent media coverage of the ongoing lack of ethnic and gender diversity in top-level coaching. We know for example from a recent report that despite making up at least 25% of professional football players, black and ethnic minorities account for only 3.4% of the top 552 professional coaching positions (http://bbc.in/1xAISA4). Women in coaching is also a prominent issue at the moment, highlighted by some recent high-profile 'firsts' in professional sport: the first female coach of a men's football team in the French football league; the first female coach of the Spanish Davis Cup team; and Amelie Mauresmo becoming the coach of Andy Murray.

During the discussion, a member of the audience asked why we don't see more female coaches in sports like football. The panel's answer was that it was because coaches have to 'look' a certain way in football. As in many sports, the 'look' of a coach in football is historically a very narrow one, typically: ex-player, at least 40 years old, male, white European. Women and ethnic minorities just don't 'look' like coaches in the culture of football. A recent article from the US illustrates how this particular culture creates double-standards for women coaches who are discredited for being loud, or behaving assertively and authoritatively, while among their male counterparts these behaviours are encouraged and expected (http://bit.ly/1HDahb6). A visit to YouTube and a search for 'Neil Warnock' or 'John Sitton' will locate some colourful clips of half-time team-talks that perfectly illustrate the perception from within football of how a manager should look and behave.

The tide is turning in some small respects. With the explosion of technology and sport science and the advent of what could be called the 'career' coach, some top-level football teams have found success with a breed of manager different to those from the Bill Shankly or Alex Ferguson schools. Rather than a no-nonsense, hardened former player who learned his trade on the job, there are now many coaches in the mould of Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and Andre Villas-Boas, who didn't have high-level playing careers from which to segue into top-level coaching via their playing connections. They are coaches who have delivered results on the basis of expert tactical analysis; efficiency in the transfer market; leadership skills; embracing new technology and knowledge from disciplines like nutrition and psychology.

The culture of the white, male, ex-player is a barrier to coaches outside of this preconceived notion to acquiring top-level jobs, and discourages them from getting involved in coaching in the first place. It is deeply, deeply entrenched and is a part of the same culture from which emanates the unfortunate views of sexism and racism that continue to plague football. It is a culture that has remained implicit, taken-as-read, unspoken and assumed for years, strengthened by decades of reinforcement through no-one being held to account for transgressions against equality or diversity.

I would compare this culture to a historical one in baseball, as brilliantly described by Michael Lewis in his book Moneyball. Up until a few years ago it was assumed by every manager and scout in baseball that only certain statistics and performance indicators were useful in identifying effective players. This persisted in the game for decades – it was the 'obvious' way, the way it had always been done up to now, and the way it ever shall be. Then, the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, Billy Beane came along and found a better way. Using previously ignored statistics to acquire overlooked players at a greatly reduced financial cost he made Oakland one of the most cost-effective teams in baseball. Beane saw things differently and by delivering team success through disregarding the establishment and their blind assumptions about what works 'because that's the way it's always been done', Beane convinced the rest of the baseball world.

This is what it will take to change the culture in football and the expectation of how a coach should look. Someone from outside of the narrow, accepted view of a football coach must be allowed to step in, deliver success and convince football and the rest of sport that a great sporting leader can look like many things, not just male and not just white. As female coaches, or coaches from ethnic minorities deliver more success in football, particularly at the top levels, as is inevitable as soon as they get enough chances, then the culture will change and we'll see a significant growth in equality and diversity.

What should be done to speed up this process and bring the equality of opportunity for women and ethnic minorities in coaching?. The "Rooney Rule", is a controversial possibility. It has reaped success in American Football where it has facilitated a growing presence of black coaches in the NFL: twelve in the ten years since the introduction of the Rooney rule, after six black coaches from the whole previous 80 years of the league. Equally appropriate is for the administrators of sport to be held accountable. Lord Moynihan's recent private members' bill recommended an increased onus on governing bodies to exhibit greater diversity in their governance and, if they were more accountable to government, greater pressure could be applied on them to set and meet clear targets for achieving a higher visibility of black and minority coaches in their respective sports. The FA currently runs COACH, a programme that provides black, Asian and ethnic minority coaches with bursary funding to support them in their careers and address the under-representation of ethnic minority coaches in the game. COACH supported 46 coaches last year, but FA equality advisor and former player Brendan Batson OBE has criticised the FA for a lack of leadership on the matter; "They can't keep going the same way year in, year out, going, 'If you're good enough, you'll get there.' Because there are good people out there."

For the rest of us, we must keep up the pressure by constantly challenging those in charge to improve and keeping this issue at the forefront of the public consciousness, so that those with the greatest influence are reminded of their duty to create sporting and working environments that provide equal opportunities to all.

Luke Regan, Research Officer, The Sports Think Tank