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Nov 15: The Football Association`s handling of disciplinary affairs has left its relationship with the England squad `extremely difficult`, according to chief executive Mark Palios.
Nov 15: The Football Association's handling of disciplinary affairs has left its relationship with the England squad "extremely difficult", according to chief executive Mark Palios.
The players are unhappy that Alan Smith was banished from the England squad hours after being called up, because he had been arrested for allegedly throwing a bottle at fans during a Leeds match.
The FA was then in the embarrassing situation of having to consider dropping Smith's replacement, James Beattie, because of the Southampton striker's previous drink-driving conviction.
Palios had to make a series of admissions that showed the FA lacked background knowledge on its own players and did not have a clear policy on when players should be made unavailable for England duty.
These admissions included:
That Palios had no idea about Beattie's past drink-drive conviction and did not even know about the striker's England call-up.
That there was "unacceptable" and "complete ignorance" at the FA about Nicky Butt's arrest for alleged assault earlier this year or the subsequent end of the case.
That the policy of whether players should be available for England squads was effectively being made up as the FA went along on an "ad-hoc" basis.
That it took until 1800 GMT on Thursday for anyone to tell Palios about the communication breakdown that meant Smith was called up to the squad on the same day that he was arrested.
Speaking about the relationship between the players and the FA, Palios said: "I think it's fair to say that it is extremely difficult at the moment.
"Yes the players are angry in terms of their perception of the Alan Smith affair and we are meeting them tonight to discuss it."
But Palios insisted that the FA's decision was correct: "I think the perception of what's best in the long-term interests of the game is that anybody in Alan Smith's position should not have worn an England shirt."
He then revealed that a full-scale review of whether players should be banned after they had been charged or arrested would now be taking place.
He also insisted that Butt would have been banned for four months - including the England qualifier in Turkey - while he went through the police investigation into allegations of assault.
However, Palios was not aware that Beattie had been sentenced to 100 hours community service and a 30-month driving ban after being convicted of drink-driving last year.
And he added: "I wasn't aware that he'd been called up to the squad at this moment in the time, to be honest."
Palios admitted Eriksson was not keen to release Smith from the squad and said the FA could have been "smoother in our communication".
"Mr Eriksson, I think, would have preferred not to send Alan Smith home. He'd have preferred to have him in the squad," he said.
The FA revealed it was "unaware" of Smith's arrest and will be investigating the sequence of events that led to his call-up and then exclusion.
Bureau Report
The FA was then in the embarrassing situation of having to consider dropping Smith's replacement, James Beattie, because of the Southampton striker's previous drink-driving conviction.
Palios had to make a series of admissions that showed the FA lacked background knowledge on its own players and did not have a clear policy on when players should be made unavailable for England duty.
These admissions included:
That Palios had no idea about Beattie's past drink-drive conviction and did not even know about the striker's England call-up.
That there was "unacceptable" and "complete ignorance" at the FA about Nicky Butt's arrest for alleged assault earlier this year or the subsequent end of the case.
That the policy of whether players should be available for England squads was effectively being made up as the FA went along on an "ad-hoc" basis.
That it took until 1800 GMT on Thursday for anyone to tell Palios about the communication breakdown that meant Smith was called up to the squad on the same day that he was arrested.
Speaking about the relationship between the players and the FA, Palios said: "I think it's fair to say that it is extremely difficult at the moment.
"Yes the players are angry in terms of their perception of the Alan Smith affair and we are meeting them tonight to discuss it."
But Palios insisted that the FA's decision was correct: "I think the perception of what's best in the long-term interests of the game is that anybody in Alan Smith's position should not have worn an England shirt."
He then revealed that a full-scale review of whether players should be banned after they had been charged or arrested would now be taking place.
He also insisted that Butt would have been banned for four months - including the England qualifier in Turkey - while he went through the police investigation into allegations of assault.
However, Palios was not aware that Beattie had been sentenced to 100 hours community service and a 30-month driving ban after being convicted of drink-driving last year.
And he added: "I wasn't aware that he'd been called up to the squad at this moment in the time, to be honest."
Palios admitted Eriksson was not keen to release Smith from the squad and said the FA could have been "smoother in our communication".
"Mr Eriksson, I think, would have preferred not to send Alan Smith home. He'd have preferred to have him in the squad," he said.
The FA revealed it was "unaware" of Smith's arrest and will be investigating the sequence of events that led to his call-up and then exclusion.
Bureau Report