To say that the FA is not institutionally racist does not mean there are no glass ceilings in football

Insideworldfootball

The debate on racism in football has now descended into absurd levels. On one hand, we are having accusations that the Football Association (FA) is institutionally racist. On the other hand, there are those who argue, and this includes some very powerful figures in the game, that Chelsea should never have made a complaint against Mark Clattenburg.

Both positions are absurd. Let us first deal with the Chelsea situation. As is very clear from what Bruce Buck, the Chelsea chairman, has told me after the Manchester United game, the club faced a very straightforward situation. This was that two of their players, John Obi Mikel and Ramires, were alleging that Clattenburg had called Mikel a monkey. Indeed, Mikel had tried to get into the referee's room to confront him after the game and was prevented from doing so by Roberto Di Matteo, the Chelsea manager and his assistant, Eddie Newton.