Rio Ferdinand faces possible sanctions by Manchester United for not wearing a Kick It Out shirt before their game against Stoke in protest at what he believes is inadequacies within the campaign, while Jason Roberts and Anton Ferdinand were among other players to take similar action.
However, Lord Ouseley says the campaign is doing its best.
"We don't make the decisions, we don't run football. We are a small charity trying to help football come to terms with the reality of the 21st century," he is quoted in The Guardian as saying.
"We can shout from the rooftops and I can understand what the black players are saying: you are too involved in the game in the way you operate to be independent and say the things that have to be said.
"The power and decision-making is with the Football Association and the Premier League. We all would have liked the John Terry case to have been wrapped up within days last October, alas it's lasted a whole year an d it has caused a lot of pain and grief.
"They know what has to be done. We've been knocking on their door for a long, long, long time so they know what their responsibilities are. The absence of their voices during all this has been noticeable."
He continued: "I can understand the irritation from the black players who feel they have grievances which have not been heard. They've turned their fire against Kick It Out as a sport campaign organisation that's out there on the front line trying to bring about change but has not been able to sufficiently bring about it to satisfy them.
"Those players have every right to express their grievances. I think their grievances are misdirected at not wearing a T-shirt because I think the grievances are much more substantial. I think it's with the game as a whole."
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