Former Celtic boss John Barnes says he can't get another managerial job in football because he's black.

Eight years after an ill-fated spell at Celtic park, Barnes took charge of the Jamaican national side and returned to club football a year later with Tranmere, but lost that job after a run of just two league wins in 11 games.

The 51-year-old has not found a job in football since and told ITV's Sports Life Stories he believes the lack of opportunities are down to a perception of his ability based on the colour of his skin.

Barnes said: “A white manager loses his job and gets another job, he loses his job, he gets another job. Very few black managers can lose their job and get another job.

“What I can judge it from is by looking at society. How many black people are there in the higher echelons of any industry? We can talk about journalism, we can talk about politics. So why should football be any different?”

There are just six black or ethnic minority football managers currently working at the 92 clubs in the Premier League and Football League - Queens Park Rangers’ Chris Ramsey, Huddersfield’s Chris Powell, Carlisle’s Keith Curle, Leyton Orient’s Fabio Liverani, Burton’s Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Brighton’s Chris Hughton.

And Barnes dismisses the suggestion that, at 35, the Celtic job was 'too much to soon' in his young managerial career.

He added: ”Well if it comes now at 51, I don’t think it will be any different. It’s more to do with the perception of my ability to do the job, because there’s a certain perception of who can make a good manager.”

Arsenal legend Ian Wright, who offers contributions to the ITV show along with Barnes's former Liverpool team-mate Steve McManaman, believes ethnic minority coaches are at a disadvantage.

He said: “With someone of John Barnes’ ability and stature, to not have worked more in the game with something that he’s desperate to do. I don’t know what else it can be?”

Wright also believes that during his playing days Barnes opened doors for other black players to move to top clubs when he swapped Watford for Merseyside in 1987.

The former England international added: “If John Barnes goes and fails at somewhere like Liverpool that puts us back. I don’t know how much longer it would have taken for us to get through to that level.”

John Barnes: Sports Life Stories airs on ITV4 at 10.10pm on Tuesday