Members of Paul Simpson’s victorious side will still have to work hard to earn regular places in their Premier League teamsIt rains on a ticker-tape parade to remind England’s Under-20s that it will be easier to conquer the world than the obstacles that litter their path to regular Premier League football but they can take comfort from the roots of their triumph in South Korea. Sunday’s World Cup success, England’s best return on the international stage since 1966, repaid a willingness of the Football Association and Premier League to act on concerns over youth development in this country. A change in attitude at Premier League clubs could bring further reward.Lewis Cook, the England captain, had only just hoisted aloft the...
The Football Association has passed modest reform, which will see more women on its governing council and board and bring it in line with Sport England requirements, but the game has a long way to goThe Football Association has ratified the modest reforms proposed to its governing council and board, so mercifully drawing to a finish a torturous and long‑winded saga of internal reordering. The immediate consequence is that the FA’s structure and makeup of its board, which will have three women and seven men by next year, complies with the – also modest – requirements of the new official code for sports governance.This means that several unlikely threats made to the FA – and by the chairman, Greg Clarke,...
It is 10 years since the reconstructed stadium opened at a cost of £757m after years of arguments about its financing and role. Its world-class status is scarcely in doubt but not everyone considers it an unadulterated successWhen photographers converged upon Wembley on 24 March 2007 to capture the first proper match since its reconstruction, they discovered no expense had been spared. The working area was as spacious and plush as should be expected in a state-of-the-art £757m football stadium; shooting England Under-21s’ curtain-raiser against Italy would present few major problems but it was an addition to the facilities that raised eyebrows. To some astonishment, those present opened the doors on a fully equipped darkroom, with sinks provided for the...
A threadbare attendance rather undermined parliament’s vote of no confidence in the FA, and the wait for more meaningful and radical change is likely to go onA vote by MPs in parliament of no confidence in the Football Association, the 154-year-old governing body of our hugely beloved national sport, ought to stand as a grand historical moment, a necessary response by politicians to calamitous failures. Sadly, the “ayes” which had it for the motion brought by Damian Collins, the chair of the culture, media and sport select committee, cannot realistically be said to have written themselves into text books.Leaving aside that Collins’s was a backbench motion with no legal force, considered an irritant by the sports minister, Tracey Crouch, who...
FA is said to be culturally incapable of reform due to its rather non-diverse personnel. So who better to demand reform than the culture, media and sport committee, made up of 10 middle-aged white men and one womanAt times, it feels as if the sole dynamic in British public life is one body accusing another body of being in existential crisis, in order to divert attention from its own existential crisis. And yes, of course that includes newspapers.Today, however, our business is governance. The culture, media and sport committee is composed of 10 middle-aged white men, one woman and not a single BAME representative. So who better to demand reform of the Football Association? Back in December, you may recall,...