FORMER Collingwood player and experienced administrator Graeme Allan has returned to the club in a new role to oversee the Magpies' push into women's football and the establishment of new academies.

Allan, who resigned as football manager of Greater Western Sydney earlier this year, has been appointed to the role of general manager of 'Next Generation' academies and teams.   

The Magpies have applied for one of the licences for a women's team in the 2017 launch season and have been assigned Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and Oakleigh in suburban Melbourne to develop as part of the AFL’s multicultural and indigenous academy program. 

The club said it recognised the need for an "outstanding football person to oversee its push into these new frontiers", with Allan bringing a wealth of experience and premiership success to the club he played with in the 1980s.

"The game of AFL is growing and Collingwood, as a club, has to grow with it," CEO Gary Pert said. 

"That is a responsibility we have to ourselves and to the game.  And to do it well we need the very best people. The industry recognises 'Gubby' as one of its very best.

"Success has followed him and the broad experience he has had in designing and bringing plans to fruition is precisely what we need."

Collingwood said the brief for Allan, who returned to Melbourne to be closer to his family, would sit "outside the traditional AFL program" run by football manager Neil Balme.

Allan has been involved in four premierships as an administrator (Collingwood 1990 and the Brisbane Lions 2001-2003), and played a key role in the Giants' development.  

He will start with Collingwood on Monday, May 9.