The conversation had just turned to club ownership when Ian Watmore made the observation — second-hand, he was keen to stress — that sensible and successful people have a strange tendency to “leave their best judgment behind at the gates” when they enter the mind- altering world of football.
The same might be said of administrators, to judge from the experiences of some, though not quite all, of Watmore’s predecessors as chief executive of the FA. There was Graham Kelly, the football man who was forced to resign over an allegedly improper loan to the FA of Wales; there was Adam Crozier, the advertising executive who had barely begun his expensive facelift of the governing body when he decamped to Royal Mail; and there was Mark Palios, the insolvency practitioner who stood down over his handling of the unedifying scandal that arose from Sven- Göran Eriksson’s dalliance with a secretary.
When Brian Barwick, a former television executive, departed last year with his dignity intact but his authority damaged, it seemed that the position was entering the same “impossible job” territory as the England manager’s role pre-Fabio Capello. But Watmore, a punk-loving Arsenal fanatic who previously served as permanent secretary for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, has, like Capello, managed to make himself at home very quickly, going some way, he hopes, to addressing the recent criticisms made of the organisation by Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister.
“One thing I have tried to do is go out and about around the game,” he said. “I’ve met most of my predecessors and the previous chairmen. I’ve tried to meet people from the professional clubs, right through to non-League clubs and the amateur game. I’ve met people who aren’t immediately obvious, but with each of them, there has been a purpose in seeking their viewpoint on football. If I disagree with it, fine, but at least I know why and I can piece it together.
“That perception about the FA [in relation to Sutcliffe’s comments about the time taken to implement the recommendations of the Burns report] has been around for ever. For as long as I’ve been watching football and taking an interest, people have made those kind of complaints. That seems to be the nature of the beast. What I think you have to do is get beneath that and say, ‘What are the real issues and are we dealing with them?’ ”
The real issues are numerous. Even with the England team on song — and the varying degrees of success enjoyed this summer by the under-21 and under-19 teams as well as the women’s senior and under-19 teams — there are plenty of sticks with which to beat the FA: the loss of sponsorship and broadcast contracts; the perceived lack of young English players emerging; the lack of progress made with the National Football Centre; the women’s game; the behaviour of players and spectators; even the Wembley pitch.
All were discussed over the course of an hour in Watmore’s company, but let us go back to the issue raised about those clubs — and he was talking in general terms, not about Portsmouth, Notts County or anyone else — where sensible judgment gives way to wild risk-taking, threatening the existence of historic institutions that are intrinsic to their communities.
“It’s easy to say there are good 阅读全文>>