The F.A. coup: Drama at Soho Square

While England laboured on the pitch on Wednesday night, an extraordinary drama was unfolding in the stands. Jason Burt reveals the ruthless infighting which brought down football's most powerful man

(GETTY IMAGES)

No country does public humiliation quite like England. And no organisation seems to do it as frequently as the Football Association.

Four England managers in 10 years. And now four chief executives. Own goals – often involving expensive pay-offs – are its speciality. But neither Graham Kelly, Adam Crozier nor the disastrous Mark Palios had to sit in public, with cameras trained on them, as news seeped out that they were being got rid of at that precise moment. Brian Barwick did. On Wednesday night, he perched in the Royal Box at Wembley, his face twitching anxiously, and the public got a glimpse of the outcome of a bitter behind-the-scenes battle at a national institution.

The last public privilege of his office, being part of the line of dignitaries introduced to the players before kick-off, was taken away from him. It was the football equivalent of the black bin-liner treatment. There he sat, glumly, in the steady rain while immediately below him in the north stand the press box was a hive of activity as news spread that he had, in effect, been removed by the FA's executive chairman and former government minister, Lord Triesman.

Later, a hastily prepared press release read that Mr Barwick would leave his post on 31 December. There were quotes from the man himself, who was not slow to praise his own "passion, decency and integrity" and a particular mention of the "Respect programme" (for players to behave better on the pitch) that he wanted to take the credit for starting.

As he travelled to the FA's Soho Square headquarters early yesterday morning to explain his departure to bemused staff, Mr Barwick may have reflected on the nature of respect. And whether he had been shown any by the body he has headed for the past three years.

The previous day, the FA's board, which includes members of the professional and amateur game, had met to discuss Mr Barwick's departure. By then, it was an inevitability given Lord Triesman's determination to part with the former television executive – he had worked for both ITV and BBC running their various sports departments – who never quite won the confidence of the formidable former politician.

As he is on a one-year rolling contract, Mr Barwick will receive a severance package of 12 months' salary, about £450,000, to cushion the blow. And given there are 12 members of the board it was no surprise that the news of another crisis at the FA had already started to seep out shortly after lunchtime.

How it has come to this may be a surprise to many outside the football world. On the face of it, Mr Barwick has been a relative success in increasing FA revenues – not least by securing a record £425m broadcast rights deal – and rescuing a modicum of stability in finally seeing through the opening of the vastly over-budget Wembley Stadium and appointing Fabio Capello as England's manager to succeed Steve McClaren. He had also arrived at the organisation when it was in a state of turmoil with Mr Palios forced out after the ridiculous Faria Alam affair, which also implicated the then manager Sven Goran Eriksson.

But, in reality, Mr Barwick's future was sealed once the forthright Lord Triesman was appointed as the FA's first £200,000-a-year independent chairman earlier this year. And Mr Barwick surely knew that. Indeed, he has sat next to Lord Triesman and Capello in May, in the very same theatre that his statement of resignation was circulated on Wednesday, and squirmed. That was after it was pointed out that the FA's blueprint for the future, which he was there to help launch, appeared to show he didn't have one with the organisation.

A diagram, appendix four of the document entitled "The FA's Vision 2008-12", outlining the FA chain of command had only a dotted line linking Mr Barwick to half of the FA's business. Mr Barwick bluffed that it was a team effort and he was "comfortable" with it, but no one present bought the explanation, especially as another executive, Alex Horne, the newly appointed chief operating officer, was already hoovering up half of his job.

Indeed, it may be that the former managing director of Wembley will now take full control and become the new chief executive, although the FA have still to make a final decision on that. What is not in doubt is that Mr Barwick had been turned into a figure of fun by the hard-nosed former minister and was already semi-detached from such core matters as the running of the England team and the bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

His departure can be explained in the bluntest of football terms. He has simply been kicked off the team because he's not rated by the gaffer. In politics, Lord Triesman's world, he's been the victim of a good old-fashioned power grab – a putsch – and has not been allowed to chair an FA management board meeting for almost a month. Lord Triesman had his agenda. And it didn't include Mr Barwick, who had the appearance of a car coat wearing, lower league manager – a Mike Bassett figure – rather than the dynamic captain of industry that Lord Triesman wanted to work with as he set about the task of modernising and streamlining the Association.

Lord Triesman has been here before. He certainly isn't averse to conflict. Essex University suspended the then David Triesman in 1968, for disrupting a campus meeting. He joined, quit and rejoined the Labour Party interspersed with a spell in the Communist Party. He was a senior Labour Party member during the blood-letting of the 1980s; was general secretary of the Association of University Teachers for several years; a member of the House of Lords for four years after being made a life peer by Tony Blair. He has held several government posts, working around the world – most recently as the minister for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

Lord Triesman also has a deep, genuine love of football, although his credentials have been questioned. Publicity material circulated when he was the Labour Party's general secretary seven years ago which said he had been part of Tottenham Hotspur's youth team even though the club's archivist could find no record of him. The claims have since been finessed to a more general "Lord Triesman has been involved in football for many years" and was a "youth footballer". A keen supporter of Spurs, he's also a patron of the club's foundation as well as a qualified referee.

And yet the 64-year-old was not first choice for the job to replace the bumbling, non-communicative Geoff Thompson. A host of apparently better-qualified names from business had been linked with the post, which had been recommended as part of a government-sponsored review carried out by Lord Burns, to end the factionalism within the FA. They included Sir Roy Gardner, the Compass chairman and former chairman of Manchester United.

It hasn't stopped Lord Triesman making changes. He had clearly identified Mr Barwick as a weak link and then went about squeezing him out, along with many of those he had hired, such as his right-hand man, the director of corporate affairs Simon Johnson, who had conducted the negotations with Capello. The chief executive has never enjoyed a good relationship with the Premier League. For example, it's well-known that its chairman, Sir Dave Richards, has often criticised Mr Barwick in meetings, while there were continual whispers about his lack of business acumen and grasp of issues.

Even that TV deal has been attacked. Mr Barwick negotiated the highest possible price back in 2007. But that meant selling the rights to cover England to the fledgling satellite sports station Setanta and to ITV which may have meant more money – £125m more than was earned in the previous deal which included the BBC – but also fewer viewers. Lord Triesman is thought to have taken a dim view of the deal while he has privately voiced concerns that Mr Barwick simply doesn't have the ability to manage an organisation with a £300m turnover.

There was also another obvious flaw in Mr Barwick. A passionate Liverpool fan, an unquestionably committed sports supporter, the 55-year-old too often appeared a cheerleader out of his depth. There was the cringe-worthy way in which Eriksson's departure was handled, prior to the 2006 World Cup, and an amazingly bungled approach to the then Portugal manager Luiz Felipe Scolari. And the inept appointment of McClaren, which was followed by a disastrous qualification campaign for Euro 2008. Even the manner of McClaren,s dismissal and the subsequent mea culpa from Mr Barwick was painful. When a strong leader was required, the FA got a man on the back foot. An apologist.

Employing Capello may have been a coup but it came at a high price – up to £6m a year – while Mr Barwick is understood to have fretted ever since at how the media will react to having an Italian, with an almost exclusively Italian backroom staff, in charge of England. It doesn't smack of strong management. And in football, as in politics, such weaknesses are ruthlessly punished.

Sex, sackings and soccer: Who's who in the saga of Soho Square

1 August 2004

Two newspapers carry revelations that the FA chief executive, Mark Palios, and the England manager, Sven Goran Eriksson, both had an affair with an FA secretary, Faria Alam. Palios quits on the day of the revelations but Eriksson keeps his job.

31 January 2005

Brian Barwick, a former journalist, begins his role as the FA's new chief executive. The appointment had been announced the previous November.

15 January 2006

Eriksson is embroiled in controversy again after he tells an undercover News of the World reporter that he would quit as England manager and join Aston Villa if the national team won the World Cup.

23 January 2006

In the wake of the revelations, Barwick announces that Eriksson will leave his post as England manager after the World Cup in the summer.

4 May 2006

It is announced Steve McClaren of Middlesbrough, will become England manager in August. The appointment brings criticism of Barwick who is perceived to have botched an earlier move for the highly-rated Luiz Felipe Scolari, now of Chelsea. Despite Barwick's previous courting of Scolari, the FA chief executive insists that McClaren was always first choice for the job.

10 March 2007

The FA is finally handed the keys to the new Wembley stadium, more than a year over schedule.

22 November 2007

McClaren is sacked as England manager. His reign is the shortest of any England manager in history. His dismissal comes after a 3-2 defeat at Wembley to Croatia which ends England's Euro 2008 hopes. McClaren is dubbed the Wally in the Brolly after spending most of the game hiding under an umbrella as his players floundered in the rain.

14 December 2007

Fabio Capello is named the England manager, to wide approval.

31 January 2008

Lord David Triesman, a Labour politician, is appointed the FA's first independent chairman.

20 August 2008

It is revealed that Barwick is to step down in December after falling out with Lord Triesman. Man Utd chief executive and FA board member David Gill is favourite to replace him.