Martin Glenn: Football Association’s chief executive resigns

Martin Glenn has resigned as the chief executive officer of The Football Association (FA) and will leave the role at the end of the 2018-19 season.

The 57-year-old took charge of the English FA in 2015 and has helped oversee a period of on-field success where the senior men’s and women’s teams reached the World Cup semi-finals and the men’s Under-17s and Under-20s won their age-group World Cups.

The BBC also reports that the FA’s revenue increased by 40% during his term.

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“When I accepted the role of CEO at The FA, I was tasked with improving the effectiveness of the organisation and making it financially secure,” he said.

“I also joined with the strong belief that the England team’s performance in tournaments could and should improve, and that the experience of the millions of people who play football could be a better one.

“I will leave feeling proud of the success of the performance of all the England teams. I am confident that we have established in St George’s Park, a world-class centre which will ensure that the teams will continue to build on their current successes. I hope that The FA will be able to build on this by accelerating the breakthrough of English qualified players into the first teams.”

Failure of Wembley sale

In a statement the FA said Glenn had “delivered much of what he came to do” but the BBC adds that he also had to deal with a number of controversies including the fallout of Mark Sampson’s dismissal as England women’s manager in 2017. Sampson was sacked for “inappropriate and unacceptable” behaviour while he was coach at Bristol Academy.

The Daily Telegraph says that Glenn’s decision comes “just two months after the embarrassing collapse of his proposed Wembley sale”. However, sources told the Telegraph that the decision was unrelated.

“His legacy has been muddied after the FA’s Council expressed dismay at a potential bid to buy Wembley by billionaire Shahid Khan, who subsequently withdrew his offer,” said the Telegraph.

Glenn ‘transformed’ the FA

The FA’s chairman Greg Clarke praised Glenn for his work in the role. Clarke said: “On behalf of the Board of The FA, I would like to thank Martin for building and leading a senior management team that has transformed our organisation.

“His integrity, commitment, energy and passion for football has underpinned the improvements on and off the pitch. The resulting commercial success has funded hugely significant change in the women’s game, St George’s Park, the FA Cup and the national teams.

“Martin leaves as his legacy an organisation that is fit for purpose, more diverse, internationally respected and ready to progress to the next level.”