Leon Mann MBE, Co-Founder Of The Football Blacklist

In The Boardroom

For In The Boardroom, a brand new podcast series from The Athletic, Jacqui Oatley speaks to influential people who operate at senior levels in football about their experiences of working in the game.

In this episode, we’re speaking to Leon Mann MBE, campaigner and co-founder of The Football Blacklist.

The Football Blacklist was founded in 2008 by Leon and Rodney Hinds and is designed to help draw positive attention to the black professionals working in football and to celebrate their achievements.

Leon also co-founded the Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS) which is designed to be the first port of call for existing and burgeoning black professionals in the sports media.

The conversation covered Leon’s work trying to make various aspects of football more inclusive from coaching to club administration to the media.

We discuss the problems he still sees as being significant, what progress has and hasn’t been made, the benefits of a more diverse and inclusive environment and what we can all do to help achieve that.

In The Boardroom from The Athletic is presented by Jacqui Oatley and is produced by Steve Hankey.