Football leadership is under fire over the Parliamentary Inquiry into Football Governance. A war of words has broken out between the two main governing bodies of the sport in this country, the Football Association (FA) and the Football League.
The former Chairman of the FA Lord Triesman hit out at Sir Dave Richards, the Chairman of the Premier League, accusing him of previously bullying FA board members into stifling reform, using the financial clout of the league. However, current FA Chairman David Bernstein paints a different picture, one of co-operation.
Richards immediately hit back, asserting that he was no bully and reminded Lord Triesman that he was one of the people involved in changing the FA constitution in 1996 to create a new, more progressive board.
It’s clear that a power struggle may ensue as Richards was in no mood to back down and added that if the FA wanted total control they would have a fight on their hands.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport sponsored inquiry has recently been taking evidence from all manner of interested parties, largely as a result of high profile press coverage of the governance of elite Premiership clubs.