Thursday 21 September 2017 18:43, UK
Bristol City are angry and confused with the FA after being "dragged" into the fall-out of Mark Sampson's sacking, according to Sky sources.
Sampson was dismissed on Wednesday as manager of England Women after details emerged over safeguarding allegations into his conduct while in charge at Bristol Academy, a position he held until December 2013.
FA chief executive Martin Glenn spoke of the "difficult decision" dismissing Sampson for "inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour", stating that investigations in 2015, that begun months after his appointment, concluded the coach posed "no threat".
After being urged last week to re-examine the case by "external sources", Glenn believed Sampson had "overstepped the professional boundaries between player and coach", making his position "untenable".
The sport's governing body has come under fire for withholding information and their handling of investigations and MP Damian Collins told Sky Sports News on Thursday the situation was a "mess" and that Sampson should never have been appointed.
It is understood, though, that Bristol City feel as they've been "thrown under a bus" after being "dragged" into the fall-out of Sampson's exit.
The FA was advised in 2014 of concerns about Sampson's conduct at the Bristol Academy from a "safeguarding perspective". The Academy, who only linked up with Bristol City in November 2015 two years after Sampson's departure, released a statement on Thursday saying they had not heard from the FA since being told the investigation was over.
The first time Bristol City knew about the sacking was on Tuesday night, according to our sources, when Sampson phoned former Academy chairman Simon Arnold out of courtesy and told him about his sacking.
It is a situation that has created confusion and unhappiness at the club at not being kept informed by the FA and the fact that they were not prepared for the statement he had been sacked.
MP Damian Collins said senior figures at the FA, including Glenn, had "difficult questions" to answer over why they took so long to look into the "incredibly serious matters" in Sampson's past.
Sampson was also the subject of accusations of racism, harassment and bullying made by ex-England player Eni Aluko.
He denied the claims, and was cleared by the FA and an independent investigation led by barrister Katharine Newton QC. The FA says Aluko's allegations are unrelated to his dismissal.
Collins, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, told Sky Sports News: "It is a mess. It's difficult to have much confidence in the ability of the FA to run proper independent investigations.
"Many people will look into this and ask if this was a convenient way of letting Sampson go. What's more astonishing is when Aluko made her concerns known, why didn't the FA go back and look at the previous investigation into Sampson and why didn't they got back to the Bristol Academy and ask them for their opinion on his conduct? Why wasn't action taken then?
"Few people will have much confidence in the FA investigations and there are still concerns over the allegations and whether they were properly investigated. It's not the first time the FA has got themselves into a mess.
"Last year we had allegations about child abuse in football and here are concerns again. Here we have a situation where people within the FA knowing there were major issues with Mark Sampson and they didn't speak up until last week and action was only taken very late.
"It should have been taken a long time ago and, by the FA's own admission, Mark Sampson should not have been appointed in the first place."
