A predictable development toady as Football League chief Brian Mawhinney hit back at Sir Trevor Brooking's criticism of the Football Association's approach to youth development. FA director of development Brooking said continual internal disputes were preventing his planned changes.

"I was very surprised and concerned at his comments - one might almost call them outbursts," said Mawhinney.

"When an employee goes public over the head of his line manager, I think you are entitled to be concerned." I on the other hand despite having no evidence would suggest that what Brooking has done is tell the truth.

Brooking said his attempts to drive through changes to the way youngsters are coached in England were being hindered by opposition from factions within the FA.

"At the moment I think the development of the game is at a standstill," Brooking - appointed to his role by former FA chief executive Mark Palios - told The Times newspaper on Monday.

"Everything I've tried to do has been blocked. I said that after the World Cup I think we should have more of a public debate about it. At the moment all of this is a very enclosed internal discussion and I'm not involved with that.

Mawhinney, who was elected to the FA board in July, said the timing of Brooking's complaints suggested a campaign to undermine FA chief executive Brian Barwick.

"His first was just as Brian was going on holiday and this latest outburst was while he was still on holiday," said Mawhinney.

"Sir Trevor is not answerable to me but the chief executive. He is on holiday, which does raise more questions about why these outbursts came at this time but I have no doubt they will be on his agenda when he comes back.

"In this country about £65m is spent each year on youth development between ages of eight and 18.

"About £30m comes from Premier League clubs, about £30m from Football League clubs - and about £4.2m from the FA.

"Every coach out there in youth development has to be licensed by the FA to be proficient to do their job.

"So if the coaching is not very good, the FA has a problem. Incidentally, the licensing of those coaches is the responsibility of Sir Trevor's department."

Brooking says his plans to modernise the coaching of young players in England have also been compromised by the FA's failure to implement last August's Burns Report which recommended restructuring the organisation.

"Because of the Burns review, most budgets are frozen," added Brooking.

"That is going on indefinitely so anything you want to do, you haven't got the money. Considering that football's supposed to have a good deal of money swirling around, it's pretty frustrating that the governing body can't spend it."  (BBC Sport)

You’ve got to ask who these men are that run our national game. What standard have they played to? Who have they managed? What credentials to they have to be at the top of the tree? Usually the head of a company or organisation has moved up from the bottom and understands the business, but in football that never seems to be the case. Instead we get fat, old pompous idiots, who have there annual FA tie, some free tickets to the cup final and an old fashioned approach to running the game. If only Sir Trev got the top job, what a difference that would make. He’s an honest man, who clearly only wants what’s best for the English game. I’m starting the campaign today.