FA accused of incompetence in ‘lack of due diligence’ over Sampson

The Football Association is facing questions over its competence after the Women in Football lobby group claimed the governing body was warned about Mark Sampson.

The 34-year-old, pictured, was sacked as England Wom- en manager on Wednesday, a day after leading the team to a 6-0 win over Russia, for “inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour” in his previous role at the Bristol Academy.

It has now been alleged that this behaviour was first reported to the FA around the time of his appointment in December 2013, and these claims became the focus of a year-long investigation by the governing body’s safeguarding unit. That investigation cleared him from a safeguarding point of view, but the FA has now admitted the safeguarding team insisted Sampson go on a course to address his behaviour at Bristol, but no senior official thought to ask for more details or read the unit’s report until last week.

This belated discovery of what Sampson had been accused of led the FA to sack him, but many involved in football are staggered nobody at the FA would have revisited the safeguarding case sooner.

In a statement, WIF said: “WIF understands questions over Sampson’s suitability for the role were flagged to the FA as early as 2013 during the recruitment process,” it said.

“The safeguarding investigation of 2014, Sampson being sent on an education course in 2015, Eniola Aluko’s complaint in 2016 and Dame Tanni Grey Thompson’s Duty of Care report published in April 2017 were all missed opportunities for the governing body to more closely examine the issues.

“Indeed it is unfathomable that an England manager could be sent on a course to emphasise the appropriate boundaries between coach and player, as a direct result of a safeguarding investigation, and not be subject to any sort of due diligence.”