English FA bosses face calls to quit over Sampson affair

LONDON: English Football Association bosses faced calls to quit on Thursday over their “shambolic” handling of the Mark Sampson affair as Britain’s sports minister urged the organisation to sort itself out.

A report released during a British parliamentary committee hearing on Wednesday found former England women’s coach Sampson had made racist remarks to players Eniola Aluko and Drew Spence.

A flawed FA internal review and an earlier inquiry by barrister Katharine Newton had cleared Sampson over allegations of bullying and discrimination by Chelsea Ladies striker Aluko.Former England striker Gary Lineker tweeted: “Damning and damaging for FA with total vindication of @EniAlu.”

Black former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright tweeted the FA to say: “Rome is burning!”

FA chairman Greg Clarke, chief executive Martin Glenn, technical director Dan Ashworth and human resources director Rachel Brace appeared before the Culture, Media and Sport committee.Over two hours, lawmakers on the committee pulled apart the FA’s handling of the allegations that pre-empted Sampson’s dismissal last month.

The officials were grilled about what checks were made on Sampson before he became England manager and why the FA was withholding half of an £80,000 ($105,000) settlement owed to whistleblower Aluko.

Glenn denied a claim by Aluko that she was told she would receive the second half of the payment if she released a statement saying the FA was not institutionally racist.

Aluko said the request was “bordering on blackmail”.Panel chairman Damian Collins said the FA officials should consider their positions.“Yes, I think they have to look very carefully at the evidence given,” said the Conservative politician.

He added: “The question should be: does what you’ve seen today inspire confidence and do they understand the issues well enough to put in place the right systems to ensure it doesn’t happen again?

“And I’m not convinced.”British sports minister Tracey Crouch said she hoped the FA “learns lessons from this whole sorry saga to ensure that all in the sport and the wider public have faith in their processes and procedures”.“We have been clear that we expect world-leading standards of governance from all our national sports governing bodies,” she added.