The Football Association (FA) has taken steps towards the implementation of recommendations made by the Burns Review following a meeting of the FA Council.

Among the main elements approved was the restructuring of the FA Board, to include an independent chair and voting rights for the chief executive.

The National Game and Professional Game will each have only five members on the main board, but separate sub boards will be established to deal with matters exclusive to these areas.

The council will be expanded to include supporters, players, managers and referees, with representatives from disability and ethnic minority groups.

The council passed the series of recommendations, but only after voting against them as a whole, after which each was passed individually, although without representatives for the professional game, who abstained.

Provided the shareholders of the FA – the 91 council members, 771 shares from county FAs and 233 full member clubs – back the proposals, the move represents a significant victory for chief executive, Brian Barwick. Barwick has been under increasing pressure – not least from sports minister, Richard Caborn – to start the modernisation process at Soho Square, more than a year after the Burns Report was published.

Although the full extent of Burns' proposals, which included having three independent members on the board, has not been realised, the rebuilt board may be more flexible and less inclined to the vetoes and stalemates which have paralysed the organisation in recent years.

The FA has also launched a public consultation ahead of the publication of a new strategy for grassroots football next spring. The aim of the consultation is to ascertain how the FA can increase participation, improve standards, and offer better support for clubs and players at a grassroots level. The deadline for contributions is 11 November.

Details: www.thefa.com/yourgameyoursay