Rio Ferdinand and Roy Hodgson renew tricky relationship on FA commission

Posted Monday, October 21, 2013 by theguardian.com

• Ferdinand added to panel after 'diversity' criticisms
• Hodgson left England defender out of Euro 2012 squad

Rio Ferdinand has been appointed to the FA's commission into the future of English football, two days after the chairman, Greg Dyke, faced stinging criticism from one of his board members over the ethnic makeup of the panel.

Unveiling the Manchester United defender and the England manager, Roy Hodgson, as the final two members of his controversial commission, Dyke was keen to emphasise that Ferdinand was approached long before the row over its lack of diversity blew up.

Heather Rabbatts, the FA director who wrote a strongly worded letter to her colleagues on Friday over the issue, said on Sunday night that while she welcomed the appointments, serious questions remained about the "work and role" of the commission. "Like many who have spoken out I want to see the commission be successful in its mission to strengthen the future talent pool for the England team," she said. "However, the issue of real diversity, and the insight that can bring, is still not fully resolved nor are the exact terms of reference of the commission and the continued absence of the Premier League from its membership."

The unlikely pairing of the central defender and the England manager, with whom he has had an up and down relationship, was unveiled on Sunday night to complete the 10-man panel as the FA battled to contain a storm over its composition. Twelve months after the defender's protests highlighted the dissatisfaction among black and ethnic minority players at the perceived lack of support from the game's governing bodies, and five months after he retired from international football, the FA will hope Ferdinand's appointment will help its case to be representative. "We have been speaking to Rio and Manchester United for some time about him joining the group – before we named the other members of the commission," Dyke said. "However, as he is a Manchester United player we needed to be sure that Rio had the necessary time to fully participate on the commission and not impact on his day job. It has been agreed he does."

As well as ensuring that the panel better represents English football, Ferdinand will also provide it with some much-needed insight into life at a top Premier League club. The commission was announced by Dyke last month in a bid to address an "alarming" decline in homegrown talent playing at the top level, and the initial reaction was generally positive. It has since spiralled into farce after the first eight names were widely criticised and the Premier League declined to have a representative on the panel. The former England international Sol Campbell and others, including Kick It Out, also criticised the lack of diversity.

On Friday night Rabbatts wrote a letter strongly criticising the FA over its lack of consultation about the makeup of the commission and accusing it of letting down the BME community within the game. In response, Dyke admitted it was a mistake to name the eight all male, all white members before the panel was complete. He stressed his credentials as a "champion of inclusion" and said he was surprised at her criticism and her decision to go public. It is understood that board members were asked for their approval of the appointments on Sunday afternoon, in the wake of Rabbatts's criticism of the lack of consultation. Hodgson's appointment had been delayed until after the end of the World Cup qualifiers, said Dyke, who has also suggested the final two panel members would have been unveiled last week had the debate over the "space monkey" joke told by Hodgson at Wembley at half-time not "blown up" in the way it did.

Ferdinand's involvement means he and Hodgson will work together again, despite their complex relationship in the wake of John Terry's onfield racist abuse of Rio's brother, Anton. Hodgson left Ferdinand out of his Euro 2012 squad for "football reasons" and then appeared to confirm the end of his international career to a punter on the Tube, before recalling him in March. But Ferdinand withdrew for fitness reasons and retired from international football two months later.

Whether Ferdinand's appointment is enough to quell what has been described by Kick It Out's chairman Lord Ouseley as a "PR disaster" remains to be seen. The new sports minister, Helen Grant, will discuss the issue with the FA this week.

Rabbatts said on Sunday night there were still wider questions to answer. "Greg Dyke was right to say that this project was the FA's flagship for the future well-being of our national team and it is essential that it is overseen by a body that is truly credible and has the trust and confidence of the whole of football," she said. "This is still not the case – today's announcement is a start but there is a lot more work to do."

Dyke, whose honeymoon period as FA chairman is definitively over despite England's qualification for the World Cup, said he hoped attention would refocus on the commission's main purpose of "finding a way of delivering long-term success for the England men's senior team".