Mark Sampson: FA was warned about employing England women’s manager

FA chief executive Martin Glenn, speaking to BBC Sport’s Richard Conway

Why have you taken this decision today?

In 2014 there were concerns raised about Mark’s time at Bristol Academy. These were investigated by the FA’s safeguarding unit and Mark was cleared in terms of his suitability to continue in football in early 2015.

Let’s be clear, Mark is not deemed to be a safeguarding threat in football. The problem is that when I read the full report of that just last week, the issue became one of Mark’s conduct and it’s really around the boundaries between a player and a coach.

On reading that report, I felt that what I saw was incompatible with the standards that we’d expect for someone to work at the FA.

Many people will look at this and perhaps think this is a convenient way to get rid of Mark Sampson given the ongoing scrutiny he is under over Eni Aluko’s allegations – what do you say to that?

I can understand why people would say that but they are two very different things.

The concerns Eni Aluko raised were about perceived bullying and perceived racism. We have investigated those properly, there have been two separate investigations actually which have broadly concluded there’s no systematic evidence for that.

This is a different issue, this is about his conduct before his time at the FA which we judge just isn’t consistent with the standards that an FA employee needs to show.

Is Mark Sampson fit to work as a coach in football generally in your opinion?

Mark Sampson is absolutely clear to work as a coach in football.

But you don’t think it’s appropriate to work as the England coach when he can work elsewhere?

I think that’s for other people to make their mind up. In terms of the standards we set at the FA and what we know about what happened, we are very clear about our decision.