Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill is confident more British black managers will follow Blackburn's Paul Ince into the Premiership.

"It is an obvious opportunity for Paul to do really well," said the Villa manager, "and I am sure he will take it. That should be an encouragement for other black players to move into management but I would hope there would not be the sort of pressure on him to succeed and be the definitive model of a black manager. He does not need that extra pressure."

As an avid watcher of the NFL O'Neill has seen the huge influx of black quarter-backs and coaches recently when, two decades ago, handing over such key roles would not have been countenanced. He says the same kind of overdue meritocratic shift is happening in football: "People will be taken on their merits, whether they are capable of doing their job, regardless of colour of skin. That is how it should be. Over the next 20 years we will have that."