FA to wait until next year to appoint new chairman

July 15 – A new independent chairman will not be appointed by the Football Association until after the bid process for the 2018 World Cup in December is finished, the Executive Board decided today.

Roger Burden, the chairman of the FA’s National Game Board, will continue his caretaker role until next year.

A significant change, however, was that the Board voted to remove the criteria preventing anyone who has been employed in the sport in the last 12 months from being considered independent.

A special general meeting will be held in October to officially remove the article from the statue which could open the way for a club chairman – or one who has recently held the post, such as Arsenal’s David Dein or Ipswich Town’s David Sheepshanks – to stand.

The chairman’s postion became vacant in May after Lord Triesman, the FA’s first independent chairman, was forced to resign following newspaper revelations in which he accused England’s World Cup bid rivals Spain and Russia of colluding to bribe referees at this year’s tournament in South Africa.