Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho boldly claimed yesterday that there is no racism in football, despite the fact there are only two black managers out of 92 league clubs.

Over the past few weeks, there has been growing calls to introduce the NFL’s Rooney Rule — where teams have to interview at least one black or minority ethnic candidate for a head coach vacancy — to increase the number of ethnic minorities in management.

But the Portuguese manager said: “Football is not so stupid to close doors to people.

“If you are good, you get the job. If you are top, you are top.”

On Thursday Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor once again accused the teams in the leagues of “a hidden racism which holds clubs back.”

“I can give you a list of black players who’ve become coaches, who’ve got their A licence, who’ve got their B licence, who’ve gone all the way up the ranks, they’ve got the pro licence and aren’t getting opportunities. So I know for a fact they’ve got that merit but there is a hidden racism that seems to hold clubs back.”

Dan Rooney, a key architect of the implementation of the rule in the US in 2002, believes that English football has nothing to lose by introducing the Rooney Rule.

Rooney said: “I would tell British clubs that if they would look at this openly they will find this is a positive thing.

“The plus side of this is you’re increasing your list of people to look at and it would really work. I couldn’t recommend it enough for the teams in Britain.

“It may take a little bit of work. But it would be a plus to the teams, to the league itself. When you think about it they have nothing to lose.”