Brian Barwick ousted as FA chief executive

Martin Samuel, Chief Football Correspondent There was a headline several pages into last night's Wembley programme. “Three Lions back knife campaign” it read. Oh, the irony. The blade protruding from between the shoulder blades of Brian Barwick, the Football Association's chief executive, was delivered not randomly, but with the practised precision of a professional assassin. Lord Triesman, the FA chairman, was a senior Labour Party member during the blood-letting of the 1980s, he was general secretary of the Association of University Teachers for eight years, a member of the House of Lords for four, he has held government posts, been responsible for delicate relations with countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. When it came to the crunch, in a face-off at Soho Square, there was going to be only one winner: the... [read full story]