Chris Hughton has branded the latest Championship managerial casualties as "harsh".

Former Albion FA Cup finalist Chris Ramsey was axed by QPR last night, hours after Chris Powell was sacked by Huddersfield.

Hughton said: "For me both are harsh decisions. We are 14 games into a season. The league is still very much taking shape and, as a manager wanting to do the best job you can, you are working with the resources you have and sometimes there are restrictions you have.

"Certainly some 14 games into a season - it's not even a third into the season - you certainly need more time."

A quarter of Championship clubs have already changed their manager this season.

The departures of Ramsey and Powell leaves Hughton as one of four managers of black and minority ethnic (BME) and Asian backgrounds in the top four leagues of English football with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Burton Albion), Keith Curle (Carlisle) and Ricardo Moniz (Notts County).

Troy Townsend, education and development manager of anti-racism organisation Kick It Out, told the BBC: "We have 25 per cent BME players in this country. There are less than four per cent in terms of major coaching roles. The stats don't stack up."

Former Chelsea defender Frank Sinclair, ex-coach of non-League Brackley Town, countered: "I've been very close to getting a couple of jobs recently and out of 35-40 applicants I've got to the final two twice.

"There's encouragement that if I keep doing the right things then I'll get the opportunity to manage at the level that I want to."