FA chairman Greg Clarke hits back at criticism from former executives
Monday 12 December 2016 19:58, UK
FA chairman Greg Clarke has hit back at former executives who penned a letter to the government calling for reform, branding it "ill-judged".
Greg Dyke has led a quintet of ex-FA bosses including David Bernstein, David Davies, Alex Horne and David Triesman calling on Culture, Media and Sport chairman Damian Collins to act on an "out of balance" governing body filled with "elderly white men".
The FA has been heavily criticised in recent weeks over its handling of the recent retrospective allegations of child sex abuse in football but Clarke insists they will leave "no stone unturned" in their investigation into the matter.
Clarke met with Sports Minister Tracey Crouch on Monday and insists the Conservative MP was supportive of reform in accordance with the government's Code for Sport, which was published in October.
And he said: "I wanted to share my response to the letter which has today been released by five former FA Chairmen and executives earlier today.
"Personally, I believe the timing of this intervention is ill-judged. However, we must acknowledge that the letter raises important questions about the governance of the FA.
"During my recent tour of County FAs and clubs, I spoke to many about my approach to governance reform. I am confident that, with collaboration across the game, we will be able to implement appropriate and meaningful change.
"Today I have also spoken to the Minister for Sport. Whilst she is very clear that she wishes to see reform, she is also clear that the appropriate mechanism to achieve this is through compliance with the government's code that was published in October.
"I have assured her that this remains our objective also, and we will work closely with her in the weeks ahead to achieve this. It is important that we retain the initiative in this process.
"In recent weeks we have seen terrible allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse in football. The FA has now published the full terms of reference for a review into issues arising from those allegations which will be led by Clive Sheldon QC.
"The review has been asked to establish what, if anything, The FA and clubs knew about these allegations at the relevant time and what action was taken or should have taken place.
"It will leave no stone unturned and we will deal with its findings in a transparent and appropriate manner wherever they take us."
