Keith Curle could be out of a job come the end of the season. The Carlisle manager took over last year and should he leave next May, it wouldn’t make many national newspapers.

But it should. It would be another black manager without a job heading into the season. At the moment, of the top 72 clubs in England (plus Cardiff and Swansea) only five have an ethnic minority manager in the dugout.

Curle at Carlisle, Chris Hughton at Brighton, Chris Ramsey at Queens Park Rangers, Chris Powell at Huddersfield and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is in charge at Burton. There are none in the Premier League and hasn’t been since Ramsey was unable to keep QPR in the Premier League last season.

Ramsey was tipped at the start of the season to guide the Hoops straight back out of the Championship and Hughton has started off the season in tremendous form — the club are currently top of the Championship — we could have two black managers in the top flight next season.

But let’s be honest, the numbers are damning and every season various journalists write about the Rooney Rule (NFL teams must interview a minority candidate for all head-coaching and senior-level vacancies, according to the 2003 rule) as a potential way of increasing the number of black managers in football

The rule seems to be working in the National Football League where it was formed. Of the 32 NFL franchises, five have ethnic minority head coaches.

Marvin Lewis at the Cincinnati Bengals, Jim Caldwell at the Detroit Lions, Todd Bowles at the New York Jets, Mike Tomlin at the Pittsburgh Steelers and Lovie Smith at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It is appalling that there are the same amount of black men in charge in the NFL then there is in the top four leagues in England.

For all the diversity football claims to have, it is severley lacking in this department. Though the answer could be in grassroots football.

A growing number of young black coaches are getting a chance to learn their trade with non-league teams. Marcus Gayle at Staines and Phil Babb at Hayes and Yeading last season.

This season, Gavin Rose is currently in charge at Dulwich Hamlet while Loui Fazakerley took over the manager’s role at Welling United back in April, while still playing.

Talking to the Star, Fazakerley believes there is a severe lack of ethnic minority manegers because black coaches don’t put their name in the hat for jobs.

“I think there is a lack of ethnic minority managers in football because not enough are putting their names forward for jobs,” he said.

And there is where the Rooney Rule could come in and help. Not only would it force clubs to interview an ethnic minority but it would give coaches more confidence when going for the interview.

They would have their foot in the door and it gives them the chance to impress the board and show them why they deserve to manage that club.

But at the same time, you can see why they are afraid to try. For one, they don’t often get given an interview for the role.

If they do get the interview, a club are more likely to go with an older, more experienced manager who can be trusted, instead of trying something new.

And on the off chance a black manager is given the job, if they fail they know they are very unlikely to get given another shot at a different club.

Rio Ferdinand knows that his job security is a lot safer analysing the Champions League for BT Sport than trying his luck as a Premier League or Football League manager.

You only have to look at the plight of Paul Ince. He became the first black Briton to manage a team in the highest tier of English football when he took charge of Blackburn in 2008.

Before that he had spells at Swindon, Macclesfield and MK Dons to varying success. He led the Dons to the League Two title in 2008 which earned him his move to Blackburn.

But he wasn’t given much of a chance with Rovers. Six months and he was out the door.

Returning to MK Dons was less successful and after brief stints at Notts County and Blackpool, Ince has found himself on the outside of management.

Ince was a terrific player and as many ex-players are finding out, that doesn’t always translate into being a great manager.

But there is no reason why ethnic minorities cannot rise to the challenge and become successful managers. It is well known that Alex Ferguson was one game away from getting the sack before becoming arguably the greatest manager football has ever seen.

Fazakerley acknowledges that being a manager is no where near the same as being a player but he is embracing the challenge.

“It’s obviously very different to when I was just playing,” he said. “It’s been very intense since the first day, there is a massive amount of work that goes into preparing the team behind the scenes but I’m enjoying the challenge.”

“I wouldn’t be able to do it without head coach Matt McEntegart and first team coach Paul Barnes. We work together as a management team, with me doing more of the admin work behind scenes while they mainly focus on the work on the training field.

“It’s a great set up that we’ve got going and the players seem to be really enjoying it and have developed well since we came in.”

Fazakerley has started his managerial career well, let’s hope it continues on that trajectory.