The Football Association is stepping up its efforts to increase the number of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) coaches in English football, with Premier League clubs to be asked to adopt the "Rooney rule" on a voluntary basis.
The FA has appointed Dr. Wayne Allison, the former Bristol City and Sheffield United striker, as its BAME project manager, and he will be given responsibility for managing the £1.4 million initiative to create more UEFA-licensed coaches from minority backgrounds.
Allison told The Guardian that top-flight clubs will be encouraged to adopt a version of the NFL's "Rooney rule," which stipulates that one BAME candidate must be interviewed for managerial vacancies.
In addition, the Football League said earlier this year that a selection of clubs in the Championship, League One and League Two are to "adopt a Voluntary Recruitment Code for first-team football under which clubs would commit to interview a BAME candidate" from next season.
Clubs will also be given access to a "ready list," which offers details on every BAME candidate available for coaching positions.
"Every job should be awarded on merit, but some BAME coaches aren't getting the opportunities to be considered for positions and others maybe don't feel there's any point in gaining qualifications," Allison said.
"Our role is about changing perceptions, and we've had a lot of help from the PFA [Professional Footballers' Association], the LMA [League Managers Association], and the Football League. We're all working together.
"We hope the ready list will make a big difference. It's about clubs supporting the principles of the 'Rooney rule' on a voluntary basis. By talking to them, I hope we'll get to a position where they'll want to adopt it."
He added: "It's about creating opportunities. We're hoping to give people a better chance."
There are currently six BAME managers across the 72 clubs in the Football League -- Brighton's Chris Hughton, QPR's Chris Ramsey, Huddersfield's Chris Powell, Burton's Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Notts County's Ricardo Moniz and Carlisle's Keith Curle -- but none in the Premier League.
Allison, whose 22-year playing career began in the late 1980s, said he has "personally never experienced any discrimination" but added: "Maybe I was lucky.
"The small number of BAME coaches working in the game suggests things haven't moved on as much as my generation had hoped."