Former FA chiefs attack 'elderly, white men' they say are destroying the organisation

Five former Football Association chief executives have launched an extraordinary attack on the governing body’s antiquated structure, declared a group of mainly “elderly, white men” are holding it back and the Premier League is being allowed all of the game’s money and power but none of the responsibility to police it.

In a letter to MP Damian Collins, chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee which may now trigger an embarrassing House of Commons vote of no confidence in the FA, David Bernstein, David Davies, Greg Dyke, Alex Horne and David Triesman say the 25 life presidents on the unwieldy 123-strong FA Council are “all elderly white men who do not represent anyone but block even the most minor of changes.”

Dyke, the most recent FA CEO, tried and failed to make the Council, which votes on key policy decisions, more reflective of the age, gender and diversity of football, earlier this year. A mere six of the council’s members are women, four are from the BME community and there is one players’ representative and one fans’ representative.

The five reserve most of their frustration for the financial inequality suffered at the Premier League’s hands, which they characterise as utterly unreasonable, in a way that the current CEO Martin Glenn cannot – because he has to work with the Premier League.

The five write: “When the [Premier League] was created back in 1992, the FA of the day allowed it to opt out of FA oversight on most issues, and [Premier League] representatives regularly use their position on the FA Board to maintain this position. Twenty clubs are in receipt of billions whilst the FA is under threat of losing millions which it gives wholly to grassroots football. To make matters worse, under the bizarre funding formula of the FA, not only does the FA not receive any of the [Premier League] billions, it is compelled to contribute tens of millions to the [Premier League], also money which could go to the grassroots of the game.

“It is little wonder that English football is out of balance. The FA has neither the modernity of approach nor independence required to counter the [Premier League] juggernaut, or to modernise its own governance. It does not appear to be able to exercise the regulatory control of the sport common to other national sport governing bodies. Too often, the FA Board, because of its lack of independence, takes its decisions on the basis of decisions of the organisations which send their representatives to the FA Board. It is therefore neither an independent board nor an independent regulator.”

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Collins said in response that he is attempting to secure a House of Commons debate calling for a vote of no confidence in the FA, and for legislation to deliver the change it needs. Sports minister, Tracey Crouch, has indicated she believes the Premier League should pay “much more” to grassroots football, which the FA has responsibility for.

The FA said on Sunday night that it was working on governance reforms to meet a new Sport England and UK Sport’s Governance Code for Sport which was released in October this year. The code would ensure that sports organisations in receipt of public money were operating effectively and transparently, it said.