Many Welsh football fans may be angered at the likely departure of Jonathan Ford from the FAW, but Twm Owen believes the no confidence vote by the blazer brigade may have been justified, given recent events.
Footballers will often say they are pleased at making the back pages rather the front page, but when stories from the boardroom make the headlines it is rarely good news.
That is why yesterday’s reports suggesting the departure of Jonathan Ford from his position as chief executive of the Football Association of Wales is imminent has caused concern among Welsh fans.
Ford has never kicked a ball for Wales, but his success in managing the Welsh game’s governing body has coincided with the national side’s most successful ever period and few think that can be coincidence.
The former Coca-Cola and MTV marketing executive has boosted revenue as he was employed to do. And if that is due to on the field success, he can also take credit for the appointments of Gary Speed and Ryan Giggs to manage the national side , while also ensuring another bold pick, Chris Coleman, had all the support needed en route to the Euro 2016 semi-finals.
Off the field, Ford has also brought the men’s and women’s Champions League Finals to Cardiff when even the European Super Cup once appeared an impressive feather in his cap. Wales also hosted its first UEFA competition, the European Women’s Under-19s tournament in 2013, under Ford’s guidance.
The difference between Ford and the previous history of the FAW couldn’t be starker. It is impossible to imagine Ford allowing a player to be removed from a flight so a committee member could have his seat as happened during one infamous, and long ago, away trip.
With such an impressive tenure, since 2009, it’s difficult to think why the FAW council should have passed a vote of no confidence in him on Monday.
But the FAW also has responsibilities wider than just the men’s and women’s senior teams and Ford has also driven forward a modernisation of the governing body and an overhaul of the domestic game. Such disruption is rarely accompanied without some upset.
It is easy to see why fans initially rushed to judge the confidence vote – done via a Zoom meeting from which Ford was virtually excluded from attending – as a revenge of the blazers.
The restructure of Welsh domestic football, that has cost clubs and area associations status, has caused division and unease among many who volunteer hours every week to the grassroots game through to the Cymru Premier level.
Ford’s term has so far been judged a success for increasing turnover and raising the FAW’s, and indeed the nation’s, profile. But the value of Real Madrid, or any of European football’s elite playing in Cardiff, to the overall health of the sport the FAW is responsible for can be questioned.
Ructions at Football Association of Wales as row over handling of Covid-19 pandemic on grass roots game has put Jonathan Ford’s position as CEO in real jeopardy. No confidence vote in Ford on Monday, remains CEO for now. FAW yet to comment on matter.
— Phil Blanche (@philblanche) February 23, 2021
While the Covid pandemic has hit the FAW’s finances its impact on many of the association’s member and affiliate clubs could be devastating. With most competitive football in Wales on hold since last March, and even the men’s and women’s premier competitions suspended, the game isn’t far from a crisis.
Ford had helped negotiate a £750,000 package with the National Lottery, in October, to support the 44 clubs in the Cymru Leagues, the premier and the north and south divisions below it. But there is still unease about its relative value, its distribution and it’s accessibility, not to mention the remaining general uncertainty in domestic football.
There are those who feel Ford’s focus is the national team and much else is just a distraction.
Those issues may be behind some of the reported discontent with Ford but, bizarrely, what appears to have brought matters to a head is the appointment of a former Post Office director to a senior position within the FAW.
Angela van den Bogerd was recruited as head of people, apparently joining the association late last year.
But the FAW doesn’t seem to have announced the appointment and has repeatedly failed to answer questions from journalists who were interested, as van den Bogerd was found by a judge to have “obfuscated” and “misled” court hearings between the Post Office and former sub-postmasters wrongly suspected of stealing money.
The sub-postmasters, who run branches, were blamed for unexplained financial losses which they have claimed were due to an error of the Post Office’s Horizon computer system. Sub-postmasters up and down the UK were jailed but a 2019 High Court judgement means the Post Office is unlikely to oppose any appeals against conviction.
Why Ford thought van den Bogerd, who left the Post Office last year, was needed at the FAW’s offices in Cardiff is unclear. Its failure to offer an explanation, or even confirm her appointment, raises more questions than the FAW has failed to answer.
Among those to have raised concerns, with Ford, over van den Bogerd’s appointment is the Senedd Member for Alyn and Deeside, Jack Sargeant. The Labour politician is a board member at Cymru Premier champions Connah’s Quay Nomads and, in his position as MS, had written to Ford to make him aware of van den Bogerd’s role at the Post Office and the judge’s comments.
Following the appointment of Angela van den Bogerd as @FAWales’ Head of People I wrote directly to Johnathan Ford seeking an urgent explanation.
My concerns around this appointment remain. #PostOfficeScandal https://t.co/wXL3fzhqcp
— Jack Sargeant MS (@JackSargeantAM) February 23, 2021
Ford, according to yesterday’s reports, is currently preparing his garden for the spring and as well as his daffodils he will be able to sit and reflect with some pride on his achievements with the FAW.
But just as a perfect 89-minute performance from a goalkeeper can be undone by a simple mistake late on, it may be Ford will have to concede van den Bogerd’s appointment was an own goal and justification for the FAW council’s decision.