Review of FA board diversity to take place over next nine months - Paul Elliott

Elliott is also working on a Football Leadership Diversity Code

A review of the make-up of the Football Association board is to take place over the next nine months, the chair of the body's inclusion advisory board Paul Elliott has said.

FA chairman Greg Clarke said in July that professional game representatives on the FA board had blocked a move to try to improve its diversity - before retracting his comments.

"I am delighted these discussions are under way," said Elliott, adding that it was "more complex than simply adding another seat to the table".

He said: "Over the next nine months, a detailed board review will be undertaken and once an outline and proposal has been agreed by the board, this will go through the relevant formal approval processes.

"As there are several ways to further diversify the board, different options must also be considered before an approval process begins."

In a letter to the FA council in July, Clarke had said representatives of the EFL and Premier League "were against such a review".

He later added: "I recognise now that the views held by the members of the board were not as they first appeared, and that all parties do support a review of FA board diversity."

"The process of altering the composition of boards is by no means unique to the FA and, naturally, it takes time and would need to be finalised in accordance with the constitution," said Elliott, who is also working on a football leadership diversity code, which he hopes to launch in October to coincide with Black History Month.

"The code is something that we want, and need, to see embedded across all 92 professional clubs in the men's game, clubs across the FA Women's Super League and FA Women's Championship, as well as those throughout the National League system," Elliott said.

"Many clubs are already doing great work in this space, but it's now time to take the next step.

"We are also working on a version of the code for the game at grassroots level, which we hope to launch in March 2021."