Troy Townsend understands why Danny Rose would write off the possibility of moving into coaching and hopes there will be more high-level opportunities for black players by the time the Tottenham defender retires.
Rose suffered racist abuse playing for England in Montenegro in March but later suggested discrimination runs far deeper in football.
The 28-year-old claimed studying for his coaching badges would be "a waste of time", due to the lack of opportunities afforded to black managers in the English game.
Townsend, who works for anti-discrimination campaign group Kick It Out, appreciates Rose's point of view and believes it is up to the sport to change that in the coming years.
READ| Rose: My coaching badges? It's a waste of time
"Danny's said what he's said because, at the moment, Danny's in a period of time where he's being victimised, because of the colour of his skin, on the football pitch," Townsend told Omnisport.
"He's seeing the lack of opportunities for people of his colour going through the coaching circles and he probably thinks to himself, 'enough is enough'. He said it publicly.
"It's a funny game, opinions can change. Who knows? When Danny's ready to retire, those opportunities may have been opened up and he may see that there is change happening and that's what you hope.
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"Words of someone like Danny Rose, the actions of someone like [Macclesfield Town manager] Sol Campbell, can really open up avenues and doors for other people.
"I fully back what Danny's saying at the moment. Why would you want to get in the industry? Why would you want to become a coach where you can see that Chris Hughton is a fantastic example but how many years have we been talking about Chris Hughton as the lone fantastic example?
"Or Chris Powell, or Chris Ramsey when he was around, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, you can pull the names out on both hands and that's it.
"Meanwhile, there's always that revolving circle of managers that have been in the game that get sacked, that get another job, that get sacked, that get another job, they bring all the coaches along the journey with them.
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"The hope is that when someone like Danny is ready to hang up his boots, he sees that there is change happening and that there are opportunities.
"We're talking about opportunities at the highest level of the game because there are loads of very good black and Asian coaches from the grassroots level that go into non-league level that then seem to want opportunities within the academy environments and higher.
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"That's where there seems to be that bottleneck of opportunities for those coaches.
"We have to find out why that is the situation, how do we change that situation so that players like Danny, and many, many other players, feel like this is a journey they can take and they can give back all that wealth of experience to the next generation of young players themselves."
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