Wednesday 24 August 2016 17:58, UK
England manager Sam Allardyce will be left to set all football targets, according to new FA chairman Greg Clarke.
The FA confirmed Clarke as the successor to Greg Dyke on Wednesday when they formally ratified the 48-year-old's nomination after initially approving him in July.
Clarke, who will begin his new role with the FA on September 2, spoke to Sky Sports News HQ about his plans for football reform, with the former Football League chairman saying he is happy with the appointment of Allardyce as England manager and vows to leave football matters to him.
"My view of football is we leave it to football people," Clarke said. "Sam will pick the team and set the objectives and get my support. I wasn't part of the selection panel that selected him but if I had have been picking the England manager it would have been an Englishman and it would have been Sam Allardyce."
Clarke's predecessor Dyke, who announced he would not be seeking re-election as FA chairman in January, had set England the target of winning the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but Clarke made it clear this was not his objective.
"Not my target," said Clarke. "Sam sets the football target and I will line up with what he wants to achieve."
Clarke added: "Greg (Dyke) is a capable person. In my view he was a very good chairman of FA. But I'm a different sort of chairman. I'm the sort of chairman who listens a lot, who builds a consensus and then takes responsibility for delivering that."
David Gill, who had been acting as chairman after Dyke's departure in July, will return to his duties as vice-chairman following the appointment of Clarke, and the new chairman spoke of unity within the different stakeholders at the FA in improving the governing body's output.
When asked what reforms he would make to the FA, Clarke said: "Everyone pushing in right direction and get on with it. There will be no 'Greg Clarke reforms', I don't do personalised branding.
"When I inherited the Football League it had a lot of inter-divisional conflict, too much arguing as oppose to agreeing what to do and getting on with it. My job is to oil the machine, to make sure the stakeholders agree a common agenda and then strive to achieve that."
