Mark Sampson should have been sacked four years ago, says FA’s Greg Clarke

• FA chairman insists he acted as soon as the allegations came to light
• ‘That’s the sort of decision that should have been made three or four years ago’

The chairman of the Football Association, Greg Clarke, has claimed Mark Sampson should have been sacked as manager of the England women’s team “three or four years ago” and defended the governing body’s handling of the controversy surrounding the 34-year-old.

Sampson was dismissed last month over safeguarding allegations relating to his time as manager of Bristol Academy. The timing of the decision has been deemed convenient by some observers given the accusations of racism made against him by the former England striker Eni Aluko and her Chelsea team-mate Drew Spence and of a subsequent cover-up by those at the top of English football, with Clarke in the firing line alongside the FA’s chief executive, Martin Glenn, and technical director, Dan Ashworth.

Continue reading...