English FA chairman Greg Clarke threatens to resign over reform

Football Association chairman Greg Clarke has said he will resign if the Government rejects a package of reforms for the organisation he hopes to push through in the spring.

The Government has given the FA a deadline of April to deliver progress on reforms or face losing up to £30m a year in public funding. On Thursday MPs will debate a non-binding motion of no-confidence in the FA in the House of Commons.

Privately the FA is frustrated that the debate has been called, by select committee chairman Damian Collins, while negotiations with FA stakeholders and the Government are ongoing.

In a statement intended to try and influence that debate, Mr Clarke said he was confident Sports Minister Tracey Crouch would accept his reforms, and that he would step down if he fails.

"The FA has a set of proposals to improve our governance which we will ratify and then take to the Minister of Sport in order to get her approval.

"Change won't be easy but I am confident it will happen - and it will be substantial.

"If the Government is not supportive of the changes when they are presented in the coming months, I will take personal responsibility for that.

"I will have failed.

"I will be accountable for that failure and would in due course step down from my role."

Mr Collins has tabled a motion that "this house has no confidence" in the FA's ability to carry out its duties, in part because of the influence of the Premier League, and is drafting legislation to force it to change, though this does not have Government support.

Mr Clarke said he "strongly disputes" the motion, stressing that the FA invests £65m a year in grassroots football, more than any governing body in the world.

"I do hope that those attending on Thursday make themselves aware of the FA's duties and the great work we are actually doing," he said.

"Our duties require us to promote, develop and invest in the game; and whilst I freely admit that our governance needs improvement, it doesn't prevent us from supporting the game from top to bottom.

"In fact, the FA is in good shape.

"It is investing record amounts into the grassroots game and changing the face of football in England."

In order to comply with a new governance code for all sports governing bodies, the FA will have to show it is increasing the diversity of the its leadership. There is currently only one woman on its board.

The FA will also have to demonstrate greater transparency in decision making, and its plans to make the 122-member FA Council, which currently only has eight women and four black and ethnic minority members, more representative of the game.

Mr Clarke is in the process of trying to persuade the council, whose antiquated membership includes representatives of the services and Oxford and Cambridge universities, to relinquish some of their powers and privileges.

For almost 20 years, they have managed to resist precisely such reform.

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