It's official: FA commission to revitalise English football includes Glenn Hoddle and Danny Mills
It's official: FA commission to revitalise English football includes Glenn Hoddle and Danny Mills
Panel also features PFA's Ritchie Humphreys, Football League's Greg Clarke, LMA's Howard Wilkinson and Crewe icon Dario Gradi
Mills a boon? Former England defender has interesting ideas says FA chief Dyke
Matt Lewis - The FA
Former England defender Danny Mills and Dario Gradi, famed for
developing young players while Crewe manager, have been named on the Football Association's commission charged with improving the English national team.
They
join new FA chairman Greg Dyke, ex-England manager Glenn Hoddle,
Football League chairman Greg Clarke, FA vice-chairman Roger Burden,
League Managers' Association chairman Howard Wilkinson and new
Professional Footballers' Association chairman Ritchie Humphreys.
That brings the total to eight representatives, and Dyke said there would be "no more than 10" in total.
Dyke - who said that it was "a shame" the Premier League had turned down his
offer to have its chairman, Anthony Fry, on the commission - revealed
that Mills, now a TV and radio pundit and commentator, had impressed by
sending him a paper on his ideas.
"He wrote a very interesting
paper and gave it to us - very interesting ideas," said Dyke. "We are
still talking to one or two other people who have not made up their
minds."
The commission will report back by the end of March.
Dyke added: "It will take a few months, we are employing some people to work full time on it, to do some research.
"We
have to look at all sorts of other countries, look at the discussion we
had this morning - look at Spain, Germany and the rest, look at what
they did, what could we do and the rest of it." Part of the Crewe: Dario Gradi has joined the FA's commission
Getty
Asked about the Premier League's decision, he said: "I spoke
to the chairman, who is an old mate of mine, and Richard [Scudamore] and
we discussed it before and they said 'Look, we will give all the
support we can but we don't want to sit on it.'
"I think it's a shame but I understand."
Dyke also refused to discuss England manager Roy Hodgson's future if the team fail to qualify for the World Cup.
He
said: "What I don't want to do is get into a discussion about backing
or not backing Roy Hodgson at the moment because we have got two
important games. I have got a lot of time for Roy Hodgson - I am a Roy
Hodgson fan.
"What I don't want to do is get into a debate this
week about Roy Hodgson. I think the debate is, 'Are we going to win or
not?' I am sweating!"
Dyke expressed concerns about England's top
flight being a "finishing school" for overseas stars and saying 70 per
cent of those starting Premier League matches last season were from
overseas.
The FA chairman added: "The truth is we have become a
finishing school for the rest of the world at the expense of our own
players.
"I care passionately about two things. I want England to
win and I do believe that English kids should have the best opportunity
to play at the highest level.
"If there are barriers to that
either when they are very small because we're not teaching them the
right skills or later because they are getting into an academy system
where it is quite difficult to get into the first-team, we need to look
at what we can do.
"We should sit here and say 'we believe that
English kids should have the right, if they have got the talent, to play
in the highest level in this country and abroad'."
The Premier
League issued a statement last month saying it was committed to engaging
with the process. The clubs do not want to have an actual
representative however - a move that will give them some distance from
any recommendations.
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