FA Chair Greg Dyke "has delivered a damning indictment" of the FA’s key figures and warned that "there must be drastic changes made at the top if the game is to progress," according to John Percy of the London TELEGRAPH. Dyke insisted that the governing body’s members were "overwhelmingly male and white" in a "blunt assessment" at the Supporters Summit. Dyke "also defended the England Commission, the controversial four-point plan to revolutionise football which has polarised opinion, and reiterated that more must be done to increase the number of young talents" in the country (TELEGRAPH, 7/26). REUTERS' Martyn Herman wrote Dyke said the governing body was in danger of becoming "irrelevant." Dyke: "If you look at who's supporting, who's playing, football and then you look at the FA Council -- it doesn't represent them. It's still overwhelmingly male, overwhelmingly white in a world that isn't overwhelmingly male and white and somehow that has to be changed." The FA Council consists of around 120 members from both the professional and amateur circles of the game "and are responsible for helping to make policy decisions for the organisation" (REUTERS, 7/26). The BBC's Richard Conway wrote it also comes after FA independent board member Heather Rabbatts "complained last year about the lack of diversity on the FA chairman's flagship England commission." The Football Supporters Federation campaigns on behalf of football fans, and Chair Malcolm Clarke "sits on the FA Council as the fans' representative." Clarke "declined to comment on Dyke's claims." However, an FSF spokesperson said, "It is important that the FA Council is an influential voice but it is important that it is representative. Football fans are a diverse group and the FA Council should reflect that" (BBC, 7/26).
