FA Board Statement

The FA Board unanimously confirmed today that, contrary to recent media reports, at no time did any member of The FA's Executive act outside the Board's authority regarding the new Team England players' agreement.

The FA Board also discussed the relationships between the regulatory bodies in football. Contrary to press reports all parties reaffirmed their desire to work together. Constructive dialogue will continue over time in order for shared objectives to be achieved.
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Earlier today, a statement from Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said: "Our four board members have engaged in a very constructive dialogue with colleagues at the FA.

"Recent events have resulted in ideas being put forward to improve the running of the game and to ensure we can all unite behind the common purpose of promoting FA competitions and the success of the national team, as well as League and club interests.

"This issue starts and ends on how best the game can be managed, ensuring decisions are made with full transparency and best information.

"We are satisfied that the FA's own strategic model of dividing their net income equally between the national game and the professional game is a reasonable one, and we have no intention of altering this position.

"We clearly want to achieve this within the auspices of the FA. This is the structure which has enabled football to be so successful and any speculation that our motives are anything other than this are simply inaccurate.

"We are looking forward to continuing positive discussions in the coming weeks."

* The FA's Main Board members are:

FA
Geoff Thompson (Chairman)
Adam Crozier (Chief Executive)

Professional Game
Dave Richard (Premier League)
Peter Ridsdale (Premier League)
Robert Coar (Premier League
David Dein (Premier League)
Peter Heard (Football League)
John Elsom (Football League)

National Game
Frank Pattison
Dave Henson
Ray Kiddell
Roger Burden
Peter Hough
Barry Bright