Greg Dyke announced on Thursday (Jan 28) he would not seek re-election for another term as chairman of England’s governing Football Association.

Dyke had initially said he would stand for a further year in office but opposition to proposed reforms from some FA councillors and a minority of board members led to a change of mind.

The outspoken 68-year-old former director-general of the BBC said “more of a conciliatory figure than me” would be needed to lead the FA after the campaign to reform of the notoriously bureaucratic organisation through the FA Council.

Dyke will now leave the FA later this year. Dyke read a prepared statement to the FA board on Thursday saying: “I had already decided that if no reform was possible I was going to leave anyway this summer.

“What I now see is that even if we get the reform through (which will be a difficult and divisive process although essential), I am probably not the best person to pick up the pieces following the inevitable discord.”

Dyke has been FA chairman since July 2013. He was a fierce critic of the way FIFA, football’s global governing body, was run under Sepp Blatter and also tried to pursue policies aimed at increasing the number of English players in the Premier League.

He made headlines when his throat-slitting gesture when England were drawn in the same group for the 2014 World Cup as Italy and Uruguay was caught on camera. It proved prophetic, with Roy Hodgson’s side crashing out in the first round in Brazil.

Source AFP