Reform call will mean sweet FA unless Premier League excesses are curbed


A backbench bill to remodel English football’s governing body is being drafted but the focus should be on refusing to snuggle up to the reflected glamour of the top flight

There are, inevitably, mixed feelings about seeing past chairmen and directors of the Football Association speaking out now about the need to curb the Premier League’s power, given their propensity mostly to do nothing about it when they had the chance, in the actual job. That might be unfair to David Triesman, who was savaged by the Premier League during his unhappy stint as chairman for daring to assert the primacy of the FA, but the reform proposals of David Bernstein and Greg Dyke, which they failed to secure, always seemed aimed more at the FA itself, and in office they were not noted critics of the Premier League.

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