PFA chief Gordon Taylor says FA's reform proposals are 'disrespectful'
Tuesday 7 March 2017 13:26, UK
Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor believes the FA's reform proposals show a "complete disrespect" to the game's key stakeholders.
On Monday, FA chairman Greg Clarke launched his plan for an overhaul of how the sport is run in England, claiming it was a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to make the national game better.
But his proposals have been met with stinging criticism from Taylor, who follows Kick It Out chairman Lord Herman Ouseley in going public with his disapproval.
Ouseley described the proposals as a "sham" and a "crying shame" and also raised the continuing failure to address the low number of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) coaches and managers in the game.
"The proposed new governance reforms of The FA shows a complete disrespect for key stakeholders in the game - principally the players (Professional Footballers' Association), the managers (League Managers Association), referees and supporters," Taylor said in a statement.
"We are referred to as 'not aligned' to The Professional Game or National Game which shows a complete lack of understanding and respect for the very people who provide their income.
"Their only transparency is their lack of diversity and such proposals do nothing to bring us in line with the rest of the world or alter the perception of lacking inclusion and being disconnected 'dinosaurs'."
After decades of refusing to move with the times, the FA has come under extreme pressure to change, with MPs passing a motion of "no confidence" in its ability to reform itself in February.
This followed a threat from grassroots funding agency Sport England to withhold development money from governing bodies which fail to meet Sports Minister Tracey Crouch's governance code, a set of best-practice rules for running sports bodies the unreformed FA would not meet.
Clarke, who has only been in the job for six months, has said he will quit as FA chairman if he fails to deliver the changes Crouch wants.
