You probably know that I like football.  Far from an expert, and if I was a referee I’d be grateful for a VAR, but certainly a fan of big-match night and internationals.  And you may also know that I’ve taken more than a lesson or two from the world of football management over the course of this blogsite.

It might come as no surprise therefore that I was recently reading about Phil Neville’s appointment as England women’s head coach – yes, I do like to keep topical and on trend for I have many wonderful people in my life who love nothing more to talk about football, in depth, at length … and I don’t want to embarrass myself from not knowing my Josés from my Contes, or worse still, not being able to explain the offside rule.

But it wasn’t really a message about football itself that I took from the article about Mr Neville.  I was more taken with its discussion of what the appointment might be saying about women’s football, and in particular with a comment by Mayor of London, Mr Sadiq Khan on gender equality in all sectors, including and extending beyond the world of the beautiful game:

“If you can’t find talented women to fill jobs, then you’re mixing with the wrong people.”

Rather nice, isn’t it?

I love examples of inclusive thinking, be they about gender or any other protected characteristic.