Greg Clarke, the Football Association chairman, has promised to step down if he fails to convince the sports minister Tracey Crouch the governing body is serious about reforming itself.
However, Clarke has strongly denied the FA, which faces a House of Commons debate on a motion of no confidence on Thursday, is failing the national game.
In a 700-word open letter published on Tuesday he wrote: “Our governance needs changing. We do need to be more diverse, more open about decision-making and we do need to better represent those playing the game.
“But we are not sitting idly by. 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.
“Delivering real change is my responsibility and I firmly believe this is critical for the future of the game. 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.”
Clarke, who has been in post for only five months, refers to Thursday’s debate as another of the “challenges” he predicted when he took over but there is no mistaking his annoyance that it has come so soon.
Crouch is also understood to believe the debate is premature, given the fact she has asked the FA, and other leading national governing bodies, to come back with reform proposals by the end of March.
This is part of her approach to make the leadership of British sport more accountable, transparent and diverse. The key to this is a new governance code, announced in October, that every organisation in receipt of public funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport must meet.
The FA received £30m from Sport England between 2013-17 for grassroots football but has so far been given only £5.6m to support its disability and women’s programmes for the next four years. A decision on the rest of its grant hinges on Crouch’s approval of its reform plans.
Clarke and his team have tried to keep those under wraps but it is widely believed he would like to add two women to the board, bringing the total number of board members to 14, three of whom would be female. Four of the total would also be independent directors, providing more balance to the perceived power of the professional game.
Reform of the FA’s 120-strong council has proved to be beyond a long line of FA chairmen and its unwieldy and antiquated structure remains an open goal for the FA’s critics. But the FA believes the criticism is overdone and Clarke rejects Collins’ claims the governing body is no longer fit for purpose.
“In fact, I strongly dispute the motion put in front of Parliament that the FA is not meeting its duties as a governing body,” he added.
“I do hope those attending on Thursday make themselves aware of the FA’s duties and the great work we are actually doing.”
