FA criticised over decision to grant free tickets and hospitality at Wembley to Brian Jones, former chair of the Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA

An FA Council member has strongly criticised the decision to grant free tickets and hospitality at Wembley to the former chair of the Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA.

Brian Jones has received 'Fellowship Status' at the FA, 19 months after he was banned from all football activity and fined for sharing an offensive and discriminatory remark on social media.

In February 2019, Jones apologised before an independent panel suspended him for 49 days and fined him £100 after they ruled that a post, shared on his Facebook page, was Islamophobic.

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Last week, the National Game Board voted to restore Jones' rights to receive two complimentary tickets and hospitality at Wembley Stadium.

The National Game Board was not required to receive approval from the FA Board, which opposed the decision.

This week, senior FA director Stacey Cartwright, a board member, resigned from her position "to pursue other business interests" and will no longer lead the search to find a replacement for former FA chair Greg Clarke.

Cartwright made no reference to Jones in a brief statement following her departure.

An FA Council member, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Sky Sports News: "What Stacey has done is highly commendable. Like me, she refuses to perpetuate this 'jobs for the boys' mentality at the FA any longer.

"If Brian Jones is granted FA Fellowship Rights, he could be sat in the Royal Box, possibly next to our next monarch. Surely that's not the right message we should be sending out to our communities."

Sky Sports News has requested a response from Jones and Cartwright.

Jones admitted an aggravated charge of misconduct last year and requested a personal hearing.

An independent panel said they were "concerned" by Jones' "lack of understanding in how the post may be seen by those different groups" and claimed he "demonstrated a lack of understanding and limited knowledge."

The commission said he was "unclear as to what training he had received from the FA on equality and that despite being an FA appointed chair of the Anti-Discrimination panel, stated he had not received any training on the Equality Act 2010."

The three-person panel also noted that Jones: "… made admissions at the very first opportunity; that he removed the post from his Facebook account once it had been suggested; that he had voluntarily stood down from the FA Council and the Judicial Panel at the earliest opportunity; that he was embarrassed and apologetic for his actions and accepted that he had made a mistake.

"The Commission had regard to the participant's clean record."