ONE day there will be a black manager of Bolton Wanderers Football Club, and rightly so.

There is always the same collective intake of breath whenever you discuss race in football, as for some reason it is regarded as a thorny subject.

And isn’t that part of the problem?

Ask me why the Football League needs to stir things up by introducing their own version of the Rooney Rule, and I’ll tell you that it’s because not enough talking gets done.

Currently six coaches from BME (Black Ethnic Minority) backgrounds are employed by the 72 clubs in the Football League.

One, Brighton’s Chris Hughton, was on the shortlist for the Wanderers job before Neil Lennon’s appointment; there may have been more.

But I don’t think the success or failure of the Rooney Rule hinges on that top line figure, rather that more BME coaches filter into the academies, the coaching staff and the board rooms, so that the true ethnic diversity of this country really is reflected in its national game.

Wanderers have never had a BME head coach or manager in their 141-year history, and they are certainly not alone, but I do not think there is any inherent reason why that would not change in the future.

They have a rich history of BME players and staff – from Ali Al-Habsi and Curtis Fleming to George Oghani and Michael Brown – and have always, in the time I have covered them, prided themselves on helping out in projects across the cultural spectrum in the town.

Nationally, however, there is clearly a problem.

There are not enough chances for BME coaches to sit down and put their case forward, let alone get a top job outright.

So to put the whole issue into the public eye might be an unpopular move but it is definitely a necessary one.

Although the legislation will be phased in slowly, the end result will be that all Football League clubs will be required to interview one BME candidate for each head coach or manager’s role from the 2016-17 season.

Such a move has been a qualified success in American Football, where it was implemented more than a decade ago, and has helped for greater diversity among top coaches.

Some argue that for the governing bodies to interject in such a way and force clubs to speak with a BME option somehow demeans the position if he wins it.

I understand the argument – but I’m with ex-Wanderers striker Les Ferdinand on this one.

"We're not saying you have to give anybody the job – we're just saying 'give us an interview' – that's all,” he said.

“Just to be able to sit down in front of you and put my case.

"You may have already decided who your next manager is going to be but if I sit down in front of you, I might impress you so much that you might recommend me to someone else.”

What interests me is what effect this could have on the transparency of a process currently shrouded in secrecy?

Whenever a managerial post comes up there is an inevitable groundswell of candidates who “fit the bill” and are instantly installed as the bookies’ favourites.

The coaches in question always have some past history with the team in question and it can feel, at times, as if clubs are fishing from the same pool, year-in, year-out.

This is as much of a source of frustration to people within the game as those like me watching from the outskirts.

Why pursue the same old names when so many good young coaches come through the system without ever getting an opportunity?

If the Rooney Rule becomes a reality then there must be a certain amount of governance, which could very easily make managerial appointments a more public matter.

There have been cases in NFL where charges have been brought against teams for not considering BME candidates, so presumably details of interviews have to be made accessible.

Bringing in the Rooney Rule would not rid football of racism in its higher echelons, that fight will take generations, but it would force more people to tackle the problem head on.

No-one is asking football clubs to look past the best candidate, just to examine all the possible options before they make a decision.