More and more footballers now are thinking and planning about life after their careers end.

Coaching courses are always one popular route, while there is also the option of academic courses but for one man he combined both with a long and successful playing career.

Wayne Allison is now reaping the rewards of all his hard work, with a job on the coaching staff at Tranmere Rovers and now the news he's achieved a PhD in Sports Science.

The 41-year-old restarted his studies back in 1999 just after he joined Tranmere as a player and three years later achieved a BSc in Sports Science.

Spells at Sheffield United and Chesterfield followed and so did the courses. First was his UEFA B Licence, then his A Licence and Certificate in Applied Management all while also finding time to continue scoring goals and study for his PhD.

He also completed his UEFA Pro Licence in the summer and is now using all his know how to help steer Rovers clear of the League 1 drop zone.

Allison, who scored 172 goals in the Football League, has enjoyed the last 10 days as Tranmere took a vital four points from two tricky away games and he got the news he'd been waiting for:

"Personally it's been a good week, I passed my PhD and it's a personal achievement which I am really pleased with. It's been seven years in the making, part time, and it hasn't quite sunk in yet but I am absolutely delighted.

"I'll no doubt find something else to do with the spare time I haven't really got but there is definitely a void there and after so long there was always going to be."

In the last few weeks he's filled the void with travelling after making a midweek trip to Gillingham before being back on the road again, this time to Southend but no one minded the long trips home after picking up some much needed points:

"We had two potentially very difficult away games at Gillingham and Southend and going away to those grounds on the back of losing your home game against Oldham was imposing to say the least but we came through it well.

"Winning at Gillingham was excellent and it was a very good team performance. We went 1-0 up and actually saw the game through, which was pleasing and then again at Southend we went 1-0 down and we fought back and got a very deserved equaliser and perhaps could have gone on to win it but we would have taken a point and it just makes everything really close down there."

Tranmere now have two home games in succession and with things so tight at the bottom of the table, success against Leyton Orient and Huddersfield Town could see them move clear of the relegation zone and give Allison even more to celebrate.

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