(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Who will be the Jackie Robinson of English football management?

The black American baseball star broke the colour bar when he played for MLB's Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Robinson thrived despite enormous pressure and became a legendary symbol of African-American talent, courage, and progress.

Other sports were emboldened to give opportunities to members of a once maligned community. Tennis’ Arthur Ashe was dubbed the "Robinson" of his sport in the 1970s.

The cult of Robinson reached out to Tiger Woods too in the 1990's. He was tagged the "Robinson of golf" until he confounded the "label placers" by describing himself as a "Cablinasian."

It was a sporting aspect mirrored in the United Kingdom. Viv Anderson, who in 1979, became the first black player to represent the senior England football team, was the "Robinson of UK football."

Legions of black footballers have become millionaires and household names since then, with the sport recognized rightly as an astonishing vehicle for social progress.

Now the search is on for the black man who will break the mould and become an icon in the dug-out.

Supporters of Jean Tigana, a wonderful player with the French national team of the 1980s, might claim the mantle on behalf of the former Fulham manager, in recognition of his work in south west London.

The Dutchman Ruud Gullit, who brought "sexy football" to Chelsea—and less successfully to Newcastle—will have his champions too.

However, in the world of symbolic importance, a "home-grown" successful black manager is needed, so the search continues.

Many hopes were pinned on Paul Ince when he smiled before the cameras as the new manager of Blackburn Rovers in the summer of 2008.

Ince even sounded the part, too, admitting to being “proud” at being the first black British manager to oversee a Premiership club. He acknowledged boldly that Blackburn’s decision to hire him as manager was “important.”

“We’ve had some great, great black players,” he said. “They seem to go out of the game. I didn’t envisage this would happen so quickly in my managerial career. Hopefully, I can be the flagship now.”

Of course, Ince could not avoid discussing his role as a trail blazer. At the time of his appointment, he was one of just two black managers in England’s 92 club professional football structure.

As such, friends and foe alike saw an opportunity to keep in play Ince’s race as a subtext to his stewardship of Blackburn.

"The significance of him being appointed was there for all to see," said Brendon Batson, the former West Bromwich Albion defender and managing director who is black and works as a consultant for the FA.

"Blackburn had an open process and they thought that he was the best person for the job irrespective of his colour and what it means to black managers who have ambitions of becoming managers. Maybe attitudes are changing in boardrooms.”"

Not fast enough, said Piara Power, director of Kick It Out, an equality campaign group.

"There may be one or two people who have an agenda who feel that they want him to perform badly because he is a black manager," Power said last December as poor results piled the pressure on Ince.

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