After the Stajcic apology – 3 things that should happen next

FFA Congress and FFA Board need to take decisive action if they want to prove they've learned something from the Alen Stajcic debacle

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The extraordinary statements from Football Federation Australia (FFA) and deputy Chairman, Heather Reid, yesterday with an apology to the former Matildas coach Alen Stajcic demand four actions.

1. Heather Reid must go

If FFA was an ordinary public company and if Reid acted like a proper director of a company, there would have been one further sentence added to her apology to Alen Stajcic:

“In light of the fact that I have brought the game into disrepute by my actions, in contravention of Article 2.1 of the FFA Code of Conduct which I am bound to uphold, and I have not acted in the best interests of FFA, I hereby tender my resignation from the Board of Football Federation Australia.”

Yet there is no such addition and many are left wondering just what the Board is doing in allowing her to stay.

Simply, the Board has no say in the removal of a Board member.

They can make their view known – as they did clearly in their accompanying statement – but the responsibility for removing Reid from the Board sits with the FFA Congress, as required by both the FFA Constitution and s 203D(i) of the Corporations Act.

Considering that Congress voted overwhelmingly to elect Reid to the Board in the first place last November, she is probably feeling fairly safe in her role. Our calculations were at the time of the election that there was only one state member federation and one A-League club who did not vote for her.

The expectation is that she will return to the Board when her health allows her to do so. The so-called 'conservative wing' of the state member federations (Queensland, Northern NSW, Northern Territory, ACT and Tasmania) are likely to continue to back her; the unusually quiet PFA proposed her nomination in the first place so it's safe to assume they still back her; most A-League clubs probably couldn’t care less as they're focussed only on independence from FFA; and the Women's Council will likely vote with those with whom they are aligned.

Reid has brought the game into disrepute. If the FFA Congress fails to do anything about this, then every single person in this country who loves football must work towards overturning their state member federation boards because they are also bringing the game into disrepute by their inaction.

2. Change FFA management

While the Board has no say in removal of one of their own, they do have the say over the executive management of FFA. In most organisations, they would have moved against the person responsible for the handling of the Stajcic termination by now.

Even without the debacle of the Stajcic sacking, there were strong arguments for change in several key positions at FFA. As we wrote here, the issues with culture at FFA go way beyond the now very hollow words muttered about the so-called culture issues within the Matildas.

But now, almost 200 days into the Board's tenure, they have run out of excuses when it comes to management personnel of the FFA.

On average, the executive management personnel at FFA have been in their jobs for eight years. According to Manfred FR Kets de Vries, a Professor of Leadership Development and Organisational Change at the University of Amserdam and Harvard Business School, the optimum time in the job for a CEO role (the example he gives) is seven years “give or take” two.

3. Reveal who's going to the World Cup

Finally, there is the issue of the World Cup which gets underway next week in France.

Ever since Reid stepped down temporarily from her role citing health reasons, speculation has been intense on social media that she would reappear in time to attend the World Cup with all the VIP treatment and trappings of being a FFA Board Director.

If the FFA Board wants any hope of repairing its relationship with football fans, this must not happen.

Further, in light of the posse of people who attended last year's Women's Asian Cup in Jordan and the World Cup in Russia at football's expense, there needs to be transparency about who is going to France.

Other than the players and team staff, FFA should publish a list of the people who are going to France at football's expense, what their role is, whether it's a contractual obligation (eg. sponsors) and how long they will be there. This includes FFA Board members, state member federation personnel, A-League club personnel, commercial and broadcast partners and FFA staff either at football's expense or partial expense (including tickets as complimentary tickets are an opportunity cost).

While it is legitimate for some people to be there, and there is an AFC and FIFA Congress next week prior to kick-off in the World Cup, the perception is that there is a long gravy train attending this marquee event on football's money.

The FFA Board would do itself an enormous favour if it recognised this concern and was transparent about issues such as this, whether perceived or real, especially when the great big tax on young players and their families remains.