The Terry case brings other issues to the fore

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The FA’s role as a selector of the national side, and a governing body at the same time, has been relieved by the Terry case with the captain of Chelsea claiming that conflict made it impossible for him to be selected to play for England. Many would argue that the situation is actually reversed, but since it is hard to narrow down the Wembley separation of powers this is an issue that is causing a lot of problems for the FA.

Disciplinary measures have always caused discontent among players, and therefore it is not very surprising that the Premier League has always been happy to leave these types of matters up to the FA to handle. However, over the last few years since Lord Burns first brought the topic up since 2005, there have been calls for the FA to create an independent disciplinary chapter so that there are no claims of bias.

The FA has firmly resisted this idea and it is likely that it will resist again in the Terry case although Terry will likely believe that all of the charges against him are the result of a FA agenda. David Bernstein, the Chairman, has not yet made a public comment regarding the Terry case because he does not want it to appear that he is interfering with the disciplinary hearings.

Darren Bailey, the head of governance for the FA, ultimately is the person that decided to bring charges against Terry as he was not connected to the Club England set-up.

Mohammed Al Fayed takes the FA and Premier League to task

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Both the Premier league and the Football Association are pondering their next moves after Mohamed Al Fayed, the chairman of Fulham, launched a scathing attack on both bodies. The Egyptian businessman is demanding a review of the refereeing practice as well as the decision making process. He has written to the Premier League and the FA on behalf of all the football clubs and is seeking quick and decisive action.

Mr Al Fayed spoke out after Fulham suffered their recent 0-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United, the game where Danny Murphy was knocked over a minute before the end but Michael Oliver, the 27 year old referee, waved away the claims for a penalty.

Al Fayed has become increasingly frustrated by the recent errors and inconsistencies that have occurred, as well as the whole way in which matches are officiated, as he believes that the decisions made on the pitch are all too readily accepted by the governing bodies of football.

In his statement, Al Fayed says the FA’s main problem in addressing the situation that currently exists is that it has too much power and there is no where else where decision makers, such as referees, escape all responsibility from having to admit blatant errors but the protesters are fined and charged with serious misconduct.

He added that the losses that clubs are suffering from such careless decisions are having a huge impact on them, and the consequences can be calamitous. He also feels that referees are far too easily influenced by the more powerful clubs and the individual, high powered owners, which calls into question both the integrity of the officials as well as the governing body that they report to.

Al Fayed is also urging the bodies to embrace video technology as he believes that in this aspect, English football is lagging behind the rest of the world