'It’s a shocking statistic': Deji Davies on Black representation at board level in football | OneFootball

Deji Davies, one of Brentford’s board of directors, has spoken to Sky Sports for their new documentary Against The Odds for Black History Month

The documentary investigates the disparity between the number of Black players and Black managers in England, with insight from prominent Black figures in English football.

The film highlights that across all Premier League clubs, Deji is the only one Black board member.

“It’s a shocking statistic”, he said. “It really highlights the work that we need to do. Hopefully I’ve inspired some people by showing that it’s possible”.

Deji was appointed to Brentford’s board in 2021. He is also the chair of The FA’s inclusion advisory board, a position he has held since 2022.

Discussing his appointment, Deji said: “Brentford ran an open process, which is common in the business world but innovative in football. You don’t see roles advertised like that.”

Deji also commented that a lack of representation may deter Black people pursuing jobs in football at board level: “If someone was interested in a role like mine and was from a background like mine, they would be forgiven for thinking, 'that role is not for me'”.

Also contributing to the documentary was Nity Raj, the club’s general counsel, who was part of the recruitment process that appointed Deji to Brentford’s board.

“The process was great because we got help with it,” said Nity. “That’s where you have to start: how do you get it out there that you want to look at football recruitment in a different way?”

Nity continued to speak about the club’s use of data when it comes to recruitment: “By reducing the bias in football recruitment, we were able to find players for better value. That’s something everyone’s familiar with at Brentford, it’s a natural extension of that thinking to take it to the board and then across the whole of the business.”

“It’s a question of being more intentional about casting the net wide. Every club is focused on making sure they turn over every stone to find the best talent,” added Deji, drawing a comparison between recruiting for the board and recruiting for the pitch.

And it’s not only about discovering quality people - Deji explained how Brentford’s strategy seeks to aid better decision making

“If you’re really thinking about how you make good decisions and how you ensure that you’ve thought about everything, that’s much more likely if you have diversity of opinion, diversity of thought, diversity of experience," he said.

“The biggest challenge is the pace of change,” concluded Deji when asked about the future of Black representation in English football.

“It’s been far slower than any of us would like but we’re deeply committed to achieving progress and we appreciate it’s a long-term commitment”.

You can watch Against The Odds: Black managers in English football on Sky Sports’ YouTube channel.