Mess of Sampson situation

Greg Clarke said: “Having read the report in detail there are different allegations about different things, which is why we are talking in the plural.

“Some could be categorised as trivial and some as very serious and none could be categorised as criminal.”

Glenn added: “My personal learning and regret was that I was made aware there had been an inquiry in October 2015. It was a perfunctory and verbal report by a head of safeguarding to say that he had been investigated and that he had been cleared to work as a participant in football.

“I guess my mistake was that I took at face value the details of the case were confidential.

“If I had known then what I know now I’d have probed further. I want to reiterate that it’s not an illegal issue, nothing illegal to our knowledge took place. It’s an issue about the relationship between coach and players.”

Sampson, who led England’s women to the semi-finals of the 2015 World Cup and Euro 2017, and had a 66 per cent win rate, was twice cleared of allegations of racism by inquiries after a complaint was made by England player Eni Aluko in 2016. Sampson has always denied all the allegations, but the FA had been under pressure to open a new inquiry and last week confirmed they had spoken to another England player, Drew Spence, in relation to allegations levelled at her international boss.

Glenn denied conveniently disposing of a manager under pressure after the recent discrimination claims. CLAIMS: Aluko reported Sampson to the FA