LONDON: Lord Herman Ouseley, chairman of anti-racism group Kick It Out, has said it is “inconceivable that the people who botched the first investigation are still in their posts” after the “shambolic exposure” of the FA’s leadership.

In the wake of the Mark Sampson/Emi Aluko storm, he added: “The FA must reflect on the dilemma it now faces as a result of last week’s shambolic exposure of its leadership, competence and discriminatory treatment of black and minority ethnic people.

“It will not be easy to rebuild trust and confidence after last week’s shenanigans.”

On the day it emerged that the FA had been shamed into paying Aluko the second half of her £80,000 settlement payment, Lord Ouseley said the FA had treated her as a “non-entity” and that representation of players on the field is “the only area in which English football seems to treat black and minority ethnic people fairly”.

One obvious target for Ouseley’s criticism was Dan Ashworth, technical director of the FA, who had ignored conflict of interest issues over the initial inquiry into Aluko’s complaints.

Earlier FA chairman Greg Clarke told the Football Association council that it had “lost the trust of the public” over its handling of discrimination claims against ex-England women’s manager Mark Sampson.

Clarke said: “We failed. What the last few weeks have exposed is how out of step we are.”

He also said the FA will conduct a “full cultural review, top to bottom”.

Clarke added: “Even when our endeavours and attitudes are well meant we fall short.

“Let me be clear why this is a problem. We have lost the trust of the public, the trust of the football participating community and the trust of those domestic and international partners we need to do our job.

“This is not my assertion – the evidence is there. Our own insight tracking shows that only 27% of football fans think we are competent and even less, 24%, have a positive perception of the FA.

“We do need that trust – it is the bedrock of everything we should be about.”

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