Wayne Allison hopes to spark change through FA's BAME initiative

Wayne Allison hopes his appointment as the FA's new Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic project manager can lead to more black coaches taking top-level roles in football.

The Football Association recently announced a £1.4m investment over five years aimed at getting increased numbers of coaches from BAME communities into the licenced coaching system.

Former Bristol City forward Allison will lead the programme in conjunction with his continued work as a coaching research manager.

Allison will also oversee the new BAME coach apprenticeship appointments, an initiative aimed at giving BAME coaches experience within England's men's and women's development teams.

The 47-year-old told Sky Sports News: "It's not a case of immediate targets, it's a case of providing opportunities and development and support for BAME coaches and getting into the elite game.

"If we can provide that in the next few years, I'm sure the situation with under-represented areas will be improved.

"It's a case of open lines of communication with the Premier League, the Football League, the LMA, the PFA and also Jason Roberts at the Sport People's Think Tank.

"It's a collaborative effort. We can't do it on our own so with all the groups together, we'll sit down and form an action and move things forward in that way.

"If we can put the procedures and the process in place over the next six months to a year, things will look a lot better."

One of the initiative's aims is to get Premier League clubs to agree a voluntary version of the 'Rooney rule' which would see them interview at least one non-white person for each coaching role.

At present, there are just six black managers in the Football League and none in England's top flight but Allison hopes past barriers can be overcome to change that.

He added: "We've taken points and we've seen the Rooney rule. That's why we're proposing the voluntary recruitment code for clubs just to consider adopting."