The FA's council met on 27 July, marketing the start of a new council year.
Read a round-up of the key matters discussed:
Council membership
At the start of the new council year, all appointments to the council from the various associations and groups are noted. The new members of council for this season are:
Lauren O’Sullivan – Association of Colleges Sport
Liz Verrall – Berks & Bucks County FA
Professor Dominic Shellard – British Universities Colleges Sports
Tom Sampson – Devon County FA
David Clarke – Disability representative
Sarah Nickless – FA Youth Council
Neil Cassar – Hampshire County FA
Keith Murdoch – Leicestershire & Rutland County FA
Michael Tattersall – National League
Gavin Lemmon – Norfolk County FA
Katrina Law – Supporters’ representative
Aron Sharpe – Division 9 representative (Wingate & Finchley FC)
David Morrall – National League System Steps 5 & 6 representative
Sonia Kulkarni – FA Women’s Super League
Iffy Onoura – BAME football communities representative
A full list of FA council members for the 2017-18 season can be found here.
The FA board comprises of the Chairman, three representatives from the professional game, three representatives from the national game, the chief executive officer and two independent non-executive directors.
Barry Bright, David Gill, Jez Moxey and Heather Rabbatts have retired as board members and the council acknowledged their service to the board.
The board currently comprises:
Greg Clarke – Independent Chairman
Martin Glenn – Chief executive officer
Roger Devlin – Independent non-executive director
Robert Cotter – National game representative
Jack Pearce – National game representative
Mervyn Leggett – National game representative
Peter McCormick – Professional game representative (Premier League)
James Rodwell – Professional game representative (Football League, Scunthorpe United FC)
(One professional game representative and one independent non-executive director to be appointed)
A list of Board Members can be found here.
The council received a presentation from The FA’s technical director, Dan Ashworth, on the work of the technical division in supporting the various England teams and the player pathway through to the senior men’s and women’s teams.
Gareth Southgate
The council received a presentation from the England senior men’s head coach, Gareth Southgate, on his first few months in the role, which focused on how he works with the squad and the culture he is looking to develop.
Season review
FA CEO Martin Glenn presented a review of the 2016-17 season which focused in particular on The FA’s progress against its strategic objectives (available here).
Council debate
The council debated a motion proposed by Rimla Akhtar, Colin Chaytors, David Crick and Paul Elliott:
Council proactively commits itself in the years immediately ahead to continue to regularly review, and amend where necessary, The Football Association governance structures and processes to ensure that the association:
- along with its constituent parts at local level, is able to continue to effectively and efficiently function as the strategic driver for maximum participation in every aspect of the game at all levels by all sections of society
- is fit for purpose to act as the governing body and regulatory authority in all parts of our game
- is able to develop all England teams at all levels to their maximum potential
- The Council particularly commits itself to ensuring that the Association is reflective of society and will focus on improving all aspects of diversity at decision making levels
This was supported by the council.
The next Council meeting is being held on 26 October 2017.
