BREAKING NEWS: Gordon Taylor will stand down as PFA chief executive at the end of the season after 40 years in charge after review into players’ union ‘recommended major overhaul’
- PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor will stand down at the end of the season
- Taylor, 75, announced last year he would be leaving his post of some 40 years
- It comes as findings of an independent review of the PFA suggest major change
- Taylor has been criticised for his £2m salary and response to dementia issue
Gordon Taylor will stand down as chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association at the end of the season after 40 years in the role.
Taylor, 75, had announced last year he would step down once an independent review of the organisation was complete and he has now outlined his departure date in a letter to union members.
The PFA has been criticised in recent weeks over its record on supporting players suffering from dementia, in the wake of Nobby Stiles’ death and Sir Bobby Charlton’s diagnosis with the condition.
Gordon Taylor, 75, will stand down as chief executive of the PFA at the end of the season
World Cup hero Stiles (right) died last month at the age of 78 after a battle with dementia
Key recommendations from the Sport Resolutions review into the PFA, which, according to the Daily Telegraph backs a major overhaul of the organisation, have been outlined in a letter to be sent to members on Wednesday afternoon.
Taylor has been criticised over a variety of issues – including his salary of more than £2million a year – and a perceived slow response to researching the links between dementia and heading a ball.
In the letter, Taylor wrote: ‘As I announced at the previous AGM, now that the independent review process is completed, I too will stand down by the end of the current season.
‘The new chief executive will be elected following the recruitment procedures recommended by the independent review.
‘We have already made substantial progress in that direction.’
As Sportsmail reported on Tuesday night, the PFA has been slammed by Chris Sutton and John Stiles – son of 1966 World Cup winner Nobby – over the dementia issue.
Chris Sutton believes that the PFA’s dementia taskforce is just a ‘time-buying PR exercise’
The former Celtic, Blackburn and Norwich striker’s father Mike (right) is battling dementia
Sutton, a Sportsmail columnist, has decided he will not join the PFA’s dementia taskforce, which he described as a ‘time-buying PR exercise’. His father, Mike, a former player, has dementia.
The PFA announced last week it would set up a Neurodegenerative Disease Working Group (NDWG) which promises to consult campaigners such as Dawn Astle, the daughter of former player Jeff Astle, and Sutton.
The PFA also said it would continue to fund Dr Willie Stewart’s research into the issue after his findings last year that former footballers were between two and five times more likely to die from degenerative brain diseases.
Taylor has been in the chief executive post at the PFA since 1981
On Friday, in response to Sportsmail’s campaign on the issue, is called for heading to be reduced in training to protect current players.
The PFA is holding its virtual annual general meeting on Thursday, at which the proposed new structure of the union will be voted on by members.
Taylor wrote in the letter: ‘As you know, in 2018 the PFA commissioned a wide-ranging independent review designed to ensure that we continue to evolve appropriately for our members.
‘We seek to achieve the highest standards of governance, transparency, accountability, and independence, and so we opened ourselves up to independent examination and invited scrutiny of all our work and our structures.
‘This independent review was a significant and lengthy process, concluding only in July 2020.
‘At the heart of the independent review is a set of detailed recommendations on how the PFA might evolve in the future.
‘The independent review proposes that a new governance structure is created for the PFA. We have worked hard to create that new structure, and delegates of the Professional Footballers’ Association will be asked to approve new rules to govern the PFA at our AGM.’
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