You really are a case aren't you? Faced by incontrovertible facts you still deny them. I didn't choose the slogan. Nor did they. The BLM political movement hijacked it but that doesn't mean that the sentiment which has inspired the players has any connection to them, especially when they have gone out of their way to deny it and reassure people.

Those facts ought to kill these preposterous claims from you and others, but somehow I see chalk being described as cheese for a long time yet.

It is established that diverse organisations overall perform better and it is therefore financially and organisationally useful to try to get the balance correct.

To encourage diversity some organisations may place a small additional weighting on a diversity candidate. But likely only in roles where diversity is relatively low compared to the benefit.

So where someone is managing a highly diverse group or where currently there is little diversity.

This is unlikely to cut in until senior levels. It is incredibly hard to hire Executive Directors from diversity backgrounds, I have had personal experience both here and in the US.

I aim to ensure good diversity at one level below Executive to try to grow our own, given the scarcity.

Remember that Diversity covers many areas, not just ethnicity or race. It is the case in London that you would aim for as near as possible 50% women at senior levels and ideally 34% ethnic diversity, 5% disabled and 4.5% LGBTQA. Plus a good age spread.

This is almost never possible. I won't hire unqualified candidates as that is a recipe for a string of failures within our diversity colleagues.

I just know the kind of response I shall get here from this but hey, I really don't care. This is the correct thing to do.

"It is established that diverse organisations overall perform better"

Yes, it is established in propaganda. How we were struggling before diversity came along.

So change the slogan.
Taking the knee, Black power salutes are inspired by the Panthers, and we all know what they were about. BLM the organisation is a modern day extension of the Panthers so how on earth can you have the gall to say that they are not connected?

If Footballers want to disassociate from that history then they better stop using the same expressions. I also wish someone would also explain exactly what racism they are protesting about because this whole episode seems to have been inspired by the killing of a violent Black criminal who resisted arrest in another country. The whole thing is so bonkers that it has no credibility at all.

No it isn’t. These aren’t games that companies are playing. They want the best people for whatever job. Positive discrimination is a recipe for disaster, not success, that is just pampering to politics.

I am not in the dressing rooms any more than you are but I have been impressed by the level of solidarity that seems to exist and the words spoken by all the players who have offered opinions.

They seem to believe that their worldwide exposure enables them to make a statement and they all want to be part of that. Quite frankly I doubt whether they care too much what a small group of supporters in south London think about it. If the coaches thought it was causing a distraction I would expect them to be doing something.

As I have said I have no issue over whether people think its time for its retirement to indeed whether it will impact racism from the stands, but that's unimportant. It was never intended to. These days the people in the stands are there to provide the noise and the visual wallpaper for the real target market.