By David Owen
October 11 – The Football Association last year paid £63,000 ($98,500/€72, 400) in compensation to directors for “loss of office”, newly published accounts show.
The FA, which governs the game in England, does not identify who received the payment, or payments.
However, the leading candidates appear to be Lord Triesman, who resigned as chairman in May 2010 in the wake of damaging newspaper allegations, and Ian Watmore, who resigned as chief executive less than two months earlier.
The accounts also show that total emoluments and benefits in kind to the FA’s highest paid director jumped to £330,000 ($516,000/€379,200) in 2010, up from £246,000 ($384,700/€282,700) the previous year.
Once again, the recipient is not identified.
In spite of this, overall directors’ remuneration at the body fell from £612,000 ($957,000/€703,300) in 2009 to £584,000 ($913,200/€671,100).
Employee remuneration also edged down, from £42.6 million ($66.6 million/€48.9 million) to £42.5 million ($66.5 million/€48.8 million), notwithstanding a hike, from 568 to 612, in the average monthly number of employees.
The divergent trends are explained in part by an increase, from 90 to 106, in the number of coaches funded as part of the Tesco’s skills programme.
Numbers employed in stadium and event management, by contrast, fell from 118 to 100.
It was a difficult year for the FA, as acknowledged by David Bernstein (pictured), the new chairman, who was appointed in January 2011.
The defining moments were defeats in the race to stage the 2018 World Cup and in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Bernstein described the latter as “hugely disappointing”, while emphasising the need to learn from the 2018 decision.
“It is my intention now to build stronger and more effective relationships across the international football family,” he said.
The FA made some financial progress in 2010, recording a more than six-fold jump in operating profit to £37.3 million ($58.3 million/€42.9 million) (2009: £5.8 million ($9.1 million/€6.7 million)).
However, the cost of Wembley continues to impose a heavy burden.
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