23 Dec 2010

England football gets new chairman

5:46 am on 23 December 2010

David Bernstein, the former chairman of Manchester City, was surprisingly named chairman of the English Football Association (FA).

The 67-year-old Bernstein succeeded David Triesman who resigned this year.

The FA has been without a full-time chairman since Triesman left in May after being taped making unfounded allegations about England's World Cup bidding rivals Russia and Spain which were published by media.

Roger Burden, the acting chairman, was a strong candidate for the job before withdrawing from the process after England's failure to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup this month.

Burden said he would not stand for the position full time as he could not work with FIFA officials he accused of betraying the bid by promising to vote for England, then not doing so.

Bernstein, a chartered accountant who has been chairman of Wembley Stadium Limited since 2008, will now take over at the FA when his appointment is rubber-stamped on January the 25th.