Greg Clarke resigned on Tuesday, hours after apologising for using the term "high-profile coloured footballers"; former FA chairman David Bernstein calls for sweeping reforms; Greg Dyke expects a diverse shortlist but fears it is impossible to change governing body
Wednesday 11 November 2020 16:18, UK
Former FA chairman David Bernstein has told Sky Sports News he does not have total confidence the shortlist for Greg Clarke's replacement will be diverse and inclusive.
Clarke resigned as FA chairman on Tuesday after he referred to black footballers as 'coloured' while giving evidence to a parliamentary inquiry.
He apologised and accepted his remarks were "unacceptable".
Sky Sports News has spoken in-depth to the two previous FA chairs, Bernstein and Greg Dyke, about the future of English football.
Bernstein, who was FA Chair from 2011 to 2013, has called on an independent regulator to implement sweeping reforms at the governing body of English football.
When asked if he was confident the shortlist for Clarke's successor will be diverse and inclusive, Bernstein replied: "Not total confidence, no. They must be in shock following what's happened so there will be an awareness of what needs to be done. But the FA is an organisation very resistant to change.
"The FA Council is still not representative of this country as it is in 2020. In a way, if that isn't right, if the structure and independence of the FA is not strong enough, these issues are much more difficult to deal with and the problems we had yesterday are more likely to occur. It may be that they are learning from this.
"They have to take diversity on board, and I don't doubt that they will. But the point I'm making is that, whoever gets that position is set up to fail, in my view, with the structure that they have to deal with. We need to get the structure and the organisation sorted out to help a progressive Chair of the FA do what needs to be done.
"A fish rots from the head. If the head of the organisation is not modernised and up-to-date and forward-thinking, then these sorts of things will happen, inevitably."
Bernstein concedes the shortlist for his appointment, in 2011, "would not be very acceptable now."
"It was done in a professional way," he says. "They used head-hunters. I was interviewed in some detail. It was a very thorough interview. I can't disclose who else was on the shortlist, but I know who it was, and they were all of a similar sort of background. That's something that would not be, I don't think, very acceptable now. For that time, probably, it was a reasonable process, but what's reasonable then is not reasonable now.
"When they go for it this time, they certainly need at least to have a shortlist which does have some diversity on it. I'm a great believer you have to appoint on merit and the strongest person, the strongest candidate, who needs to be a modern person, someone of independent thinking, and so on. The shortlist needs to have diversity within it, so that the final selection is a real choice with people of different backgrounds available for choice."
Bernstein describes Clarke's remarks as 'extraordinary' and 'highly inappropriate'.
"It's pretty extraordinary what has happened. What he said was highly inappropriate. I don't think, in the end, he had very much alternative but to resign. Clearly, he had lost the confidence of his colleagues on the board. I think he had to go," he says.
"When you're chairing the FA, you should just be wired against making statements like that. You should just be wired against making statements like that. It should be virtually impossible. It's surprising he should even think in those sorts of terms."
Last month, Bernstein announced proposed reforms in English football, with leading figures including Gary Neville and Andy Burnham.
"We need to appoint an independent regulator, supported by parliament, with the power behind them, to force through a range of changes," Bernstein told Sky Sports News. "We need to do it now. The game is in crisis, even before yesterday.
"I have a lot of sympathy for the employees of the FA. There are some really good people there. I know how frustrated they are, or they were when I was there, at the structure we're talking about. If they had a free voice in this, they would vote overwhelmingly to make these changes. A lot of work has been done but it gets undermined, constantly, by incidents, very serious incidents, liked we had yesterday."
Bernstein has defended his own record as FA chairman.
"When I was at the FA, diversity was top of my agenda," he says. "I was asked by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, to lead a review of diversity and of racism in football. I managed to get the whole of football to sign off a report with 100 recommendations, of which a lot were implemented. I got the first female director of the FA, Heather Rabbatts, who's from a diverse background, believe me that wasn't easy."
In a wide-ranging interview, former FA chairman Greg Dyke told Sky Sports News he was shocked at the language used by his successor Clarke.
"He said some things he shouldn't have said. You sat there thinking, "Why is he saying that?! Why would you use that language?!" Everybody knows you can't use that language.
"I don't know whether he was pushed or he genuinely resigned himself but I just think it's sad when people's careers end in that way."
Dyke was chairman between 2013 and 2016 and did not seek re-election after being frustrated by the lack of reform.
On the FA's structure, he said: "I thought for some time the whole structure of regulation of football in this country needs to change.
"The whole governance structure of the FA is desperately in need of change. I tried and failed miserably when I was chair. I don't think Greg (Clarke) has pushed it any further.
"The old blokes are all still there. I suspect the FA will do nothing other than find someone else who sits there and chairs the meetings, and doesn't get a lot done."
The FA board is leading the recruitment for a new chair and Dyke is expecting a diverse shortlist.
"I think they will know that you've got to have a diverse shortlist. That is not my fear. My fear is they will get someone in to do the job who thinks you can do all sorts, change lots of things, and find out you can't. And that's what's frustrating about the job."
Dyke started his role in 2013 and revealed the unusual circumstances which led to his recruitment.
"I got a phone call abroad in the middle of the night from a mate who put my name forward saying, 'Would you be interested?'. It wasn't a particularly hard interview. I didn't think there was that much competition. They struggled to find people who they thought were qualified and would want to do it.
"I'm not sure the FA has ever been that concerned about diversity. I think people who work there are, I'm not sure the governance, the board is.
"The FA Council are never going to change anything profound. They're much more interested in tickets than they are changing the future of English football."
Dyke wants the government to put pressure on the FA and agrees with former chairman Bernstein there should be an independent regulator.
"It won't happen from the inside. I even got Prince William [FA president] on my side I think but we didn't succeed," he added.
Dyke has some bold advice about anyone who is in line to replace Clarke.
"My advice to them is 'Don't take the job!'. If you like being a chair and has lots of nice trips and sees a lot good football, fine, take it.
"If you want to reform the organisation and the structure of English football, don't bother. I left with quite a bleak view of the organisation of football when I stopped being chairman of the FA a few years back"
"I hope they look for people who aren't [male, middle-aged, white] and that's part of the process".
Sky Sports News Chief Reporter Bryan Swanson analyses whether this is an opportunity for the FA to make a diverse and inclusive appointment.
Greg Clarke's sudden resignation from the Football Association comes during a global crisis.
In the midst of a deadly pandemic, with the game losing £100m per month, the FA needs stable leadership more than ever.
Clarke told Sky Sports News he will "move back to the business world" and has remarked on his deep appreciation for the "great people I've worked with", but he will remain in his post as one of the most powerful officials in world football until February.
Clarke's resignation as a FIFA vice-president, on the all-ruling FIFA Council, has been delayed, he says, to protect UEFA's voting rights until a replacement is appointed at a meeting in three months' time.
But what is the FA's long-term ambition for one of the game's most influential positions?
The PFA's equalities coach, Iffy Onuora, says it is important the FA are held to account if they miss the opportunity to make good on their Football Diversity Leadership Code.
"We hold them to account, that's all we can do. The code that they set up [Football Diversity Leadership Code] two weeks ago was quite specific, it was bold and it had to be.
"I commend people like Paul Elliott at the FA and all the people working at the FA. It wasn't just the FA, it was across stakeholders in putting together the code. So, this is an early opportunity, I think they [the FA] will be really held to account if this is an opportunity missed now.
"So, I understand David Bernstein's misgivings. I'd prefer to think of it as an opportunity.
"I'd hate to be having this conversation in a few weeks' time or a few months' time when the opportunity has been missed. We've been in that space too many times in the past.
"That's why I felt this time is different but I want it to be different, no point people like me just hoping it's different, it needs to be different from before. Need to have some real tangible results and tangible representation.
"Otherwise the last few months of taking the knee and all those discussions have come to nothing so let's just hold everyone to account.
"Keep the pressure on the people in the right way but make sure that they are held to account because these are the guardians of the game - the FA - and they deserve and should expect to be held to account."
