The curt, dismissive, almost implausible response sent by the FA chairman on receiving an email detailing Eni Aluko’s allegations against Mark Sampson means his appearance in front of MPs may be his final act in the job“I’ve no idea why you are sending me this. Perhaps you could enlighten me?” It’s not the response that would ordinarily be expected from the leader of an organisation that purports to take the fight against racism seriously and had just been sent a six-page document claiming that a cover-up involving a racial allegation had taken place within his own structure. Related: Revealed: the 14-word email that puts FA’s Greg Clarke under fresh scrutiny Continue reading...
Many clubs and players are up in arms about the significant changes involved in the haphazard and hasty decisions to overhaul the WSL and WPLThe Football Association’s plans to restructure women’s football, announced last week, have divided opinion. What unites everyone is the intention behind the proposals.There is much to be lauded about the seriousness with which the FA has turned to the women’s game. The governing body has been shrouded in controversy in recent months, with Eni Aluko’s complaint and Mark Sampson’s sacking raising huge questions about its competence and ability to govern. Related: Baroness Sue Campbell begins to right women’s football’s historic wrongs Related: Notts County Ladies ‘jobless and homeless’ as club folds on eve of season Related:...
The holes in the FA’s version of events make a case for its chief executive to stand down on the Lady Bracknell principle of administrative bunglingThe FA chief executive, Martin Glenn, has acted decisively – if confusingly and belatedly – in dismissing Mark Sampson from his post as the manager of the England women’s team.Glenn’s next step should be to offer his own resignation. Again this should be done promptly, and with an acceptance the public expects more from the governing body of its national sport than bungled attempts at spin and reputation management, or moral principles that appear to bend with the weather vane of bad publicity. Related: Embarrassment for FA as Glenn contradicts lawyers about Sampson investigation Related:...
The fact remains that front-loading a prefab sense of shared habits, team cultures and all the rest may not actually have much to do with winning football matchesThe poet, librarian and attic-bound misanthrope Philip Larkin was asked once why he didn’t cash in on his bicycle-clipped celebrity by touring England giving speeches and milking the fame circuit like his contemporary, handsome, leather-jacketed Ted Hughes. Larkin’s response was to shrug and wince a little and point out that he just couldn’t face the idea of “going around pretending to be me”.It is a phrase that always seems to lurk in the background whenever Gareth Southgate or anyone else at the FA talks about the need to discover and implement an English...
The Everton player, as well as Sergio Agüero, were involved in challenges that led to sending-offs, possibly through making them seem worse than they were, but still the FA’s new panel cannot make its first judgmentWhat a disappointment. The Premier League season is only two matches old and already it looks as if the Football Association’s initiative on diving and simulation is struggling to keep pace. Related: Calvert-Lewin and Agüero face no action under new FA simulation rules Continue reading...