Clarke calls for transparency

The new chairman of the Football League, Greg Clarke, has called for greater transparency within the game.

The Leicester City season ticket holder is set to replace Lord Mawhinney, who steps down on Sunday after seven years in the role.

His priority is to uncover the true state of the English game, with numerous clubs now struggling under the weight of financial upheaval.

Clarke believes the best way to alleviate this problem would be for Football League teams to be more open in their dealings, and that is something he hopes to see happen in the near future.

"I am a big fan of transparency," he told Sky Sports News.

"I have worked all over the world, in different countries, and transparent societies are better societies. Everyone can see what's going on and be held to account.

"My natural propensity is to say, for example, that I earn £150,000 a year. I disclose my salary as part of a culture of transparency and with that I would like to believe that our clubs would like to tell people what's happening within them.

"I have to gauge with the owners of those clubs, all 72 clubs, and build a consensus they are comfortable with. I just want them to know where I am coming from and I think transparency is good."

Focus

Clarke started work on Friday and insists he will give his all to the post once Mawhinney steps down over the weekend.

He said: "It's a three-day position. But I will be working full-time for the foreseeable future because I have shed all other priorities I had so I can focus on this, because it's a personal concern to me.

"I come from a football background - I have been on the board of football clubs, I have spent my whole life supporting Leicester City, so this is a really important thing to me.

"I am going to throw myself at this and as soon as Brian finishes I will take over and I will be doing this job five or six days a week until we have got some traction."

See what else Clarke had to say by checking out our video of the full interview.