Darren Byfield: Walsall head coach will keep promoting the need for more black managers in football

Byfield’s route into management began in non-league football with spells at Redditch United, Stratford Town, Walsall Wood and Alvechurch.

He said the relatively sheltered environment of the lower leagues shaped his identity as a coach.

“I had to train probably once a week on a third of a pitch, so you couldn’t even get your ideas across,” he said.

“But it helped me, shaped me. I was allowed to make mistakes and it wouldn’t be publicised. And it’s a big thing.

“What came out of that was I knew exactly how I wanted to play. I knew exactly what kind of players I wanted in my team.

“I knew all the fundamentals that were needed, the non-negotiables that would be implemented at a football club and it definitely helps with being a first-team coach.”

Currently, there are no black managers in the National League, following Sam Cox’s dismissal by Wealdstone in February.

Before former Walsall striker Byfield joined the coaching staff of his old club in the summer of 2023, he had a brief exposure of managing in the EFL, through a two-game interim spell at Crawley.

He said his time in non-league helped deal with the insecurity of that situation.

“Being an assistant manager and interim, you’ve got to get your message across as simple as possible in the best possible way,” he said.

“You’ve got to challenge the players, you’ve got to get them to adopt a winning mentality.

“You have to articulate the right way because the days of screaming at them and talking to them in a disgusting way are out the window, we have to keep encouraging them and challenging them on what’s right and what’s wrong.”