"You need to have an acute sense of your priorities here," he says.

Here are his thoughts on some of those priorities.

Palios on The FA

"You have got an environment here now [with] people speaking to people in a language they understand.

"Square pegs in square holes, round pegs in round holes, centre-forward playing centre-forward."

"We've brought some football into The Football Association."

Palios on Finances

"Finance was hitting right at the heart of our credibility.

"If I hadn't [dealt with the financial issues], who are we to talk about who's fit and proper to run the game?"

Palios on the issue of football agents

"I am not seduced by the fact that greater transparency will be the final answer on this. It will take us so far. It is very important that people realise that we as the governing body only have so many teeth.

"There are other agencies around, such as the police, the Inland Revenue, the VAT/ Customs and Excise, that have the powers of investigation of bank accounts which we would never ever have.

"As a consequence, people have got to be realistic as to what we can do. I see it very much as us setting the tone and the theme and tightening up the regime so that we can get to a position, whereby we can eradicate most of the ills that arise in this area."