MPs Pass ‘No Confidence’ Motion in FA

A motion of ‘no confidence’ in the governing body of English football has been passed by MPs debating the organisation’s ability to reform itself.

The Football Association has been warned that it faces new legislation if it does not modernise, with Sports Minister Tracey Crouch stating that £30-40m of public funding could be stripped from the body unless changes are made.

Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Select Committee chairman Damian Collins said: “No change is no option.”

He added: “The FA, to use a football analogy, are not only in extra time, they are at the end of extra time, in ‘Fergie time’. They are 1-0 down and if they don’t pick up fairly quickly, reform will be delivered to them.”

FA Chairman Greg Clarke has already offered to tender his resignation if the government do not accept his reform plans, which are expected before April.

The motion of ‘no confidence’ was passed unanimously at the end of a backbench business debate, which was attended by fewer than 30 MPs.

The Football Association has taken criticism in recent years for a lack of diversity amongst its committee, which comprises just eight women and four ethnic minorities amongst its 122 members.