MPs baffled why FA heads haven’t rolled
THE beleaguered FA high command, who perhaps thought they had weathered the worst of the Aluko-Sampson storm, received another kicking from MPs yesterday.
The same Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee who exposed weaknesses in the FA’s inept handling of the England women’s team scandal, slammed the governing body again while questioning Minister for Sport Tracey Crouch.
The MPs, seemingly obsessed with FA business, wanted to know why chairman Greg Clarke, chief executive Martin Glenn and technical director Dan Ashworth all remained in their jobs.
And it will be highly embarrassing for Clarke that his claim that governance regulations stopped him from getting involved in Aluko’s discrimination case was debunked by Crouch.
She said it was an ‘innocent misinterpretation’ of the code because an independent chairman is allowed to ensure proper processes take place.
Clarke was berated for deflecting attention from the FA with his attack on players’ union chief Gordon Taylor, which was called ‘so crass and obvious, so blatant’. And Glenn also ‘refused to admit any failings’.
Crouch, while critical of the way the FA had handled a ‘sorry saga’, added: ‘It’s not my job to say whether the chairman or chief executive should be fired.’
But Crouch kept the pressure on FA chiefs, saying: ‘They handled it really badly, it was a mess. They need to take a long, hard look at themselves with the culture changing right at the top. The speech (Clarke’s mea culpa to councillors) the week after should have been given here.’ Crouch added: ‘Eni Aluko should help the FA with their reforms.’
FA top brass Greg Clarke and Martin Glenn should have tuned into Tracey Crouch’s two-hour appearance in front of the DCMS select committee. The properly briefed Minister for Sport got her messages across politely and authoritatively but without antagonising MPs including her nemesis, committee chairman Damian Collins, who so covets Crouch’s job.
AMERICAN sports retail giants New Balance have shown the door to their top football executives, Richard Wright and Ben Haworth. This seems a worrying development for Liverpool who, along with Celtic, the Republic of Ireland and England cricket, have a kit supply deal with the firm.