David Sheepshanks has been named joint-acting chairman of the FA in the wake of Lord Triesman’s resignation. Sheepshanks is still chairman of the PLC which owns 12.5% of Town and remains a member of the club’s board.
Sheepshanks, FA chairman of the professional game, and Roger Burden, the chairman of the national game board, took on their temporary joint role earlier today when Lord Triesman was forced to resign after newspaper reports revealed that he had alleged that Spain and Russia planned to bribe referees at this summer’s World Cup.
Triesman said: "I have decided to resign as chairman of The FA and the 2018 [World Cup] Bid board.
"A private conversation with someone whom I thought to be a friend was taped without my knowledge and passed to a national newspaper. That same friend has also chosen to greatly exaggerate the extent of our friendship.
"In that conversation I commentated on speculation circulating about conspiracies around the world. Those comments were never intended to be taken seriously as indeed is the case with many private conversations.”
Sheepshanks is also chairman of the FA’s National Football Centre which is set to be built at Burton.
Meanwhile, the increase in British clubs who are owned or controlled through offshore companies, including Town, is reported to be attracting the attention of HM Revenue and Customs. Several of Blues owner Marcus Evans’s companies are registered in Bermuda.