LONDON: Former BBC director general Greg Dyke is set to become the new chairman of the Football Association, the English game’s governing body announced yesterday.
The 65-year-old is in line to succeed David Bernstein when the current chairman steps down in July after the FA refused to alter a rule requiring the holder of the post to quit at the age of 70.
Now the appointment of Dyke is subject to the approval of the FA council.
A lifelong football fan and the current chairman of west London side Brentford, currently second in England’s third tier League One, Dyke previously had business experience of the game when buying sports rights on behalf of both commercial broadcaster ITV and the BBC, Britain’s two main terrestrial networks.
During the 1990s, he was also a director of English giants Manchester United.
Dyke, subject to his appointment being approved, will step down from his Brentford role in July.
An FA statement Wednesday said: “The Football Association Board has today unanimously approved the nomination for Greg Dyke to be appointed independent FA chairman.”
Dyke said: “I was brought up in a household where my father was much more interested in whether or not you had won at football than whether you had passed your exams. In my case that was just as well.
“I got involved in how the game was run when I was first involved in buying sports rights as chairman of ITV Sport in the late eighties and later at the BBC. I learnt a lot in the years when I was on the board of Manchester United and have seen the other side of the professional game at Brentford.”
Dyke, who as well as quitting his Brentford role will resign as chairman of German broadcaster Pro Sieben. AFP
