Mark Sampson: Next England manager should be female, says Kelly Smith

The Welshman was also cleared this year of wrongdoing following discrimination allegations made by England players, including striker Eniola Aluko. Sampson denied the Chelsea player’s claims.

Barrister Katharine Newton was asked by the FA to investigate the racist allegations. Glenn told The Guardian, external that the governing body had deliberately chosen a black woman, stating he feared, “two middle-aged-ish white people doing the inquiry may have seen some of the shades of the issue that Eni was trying to get at”.

But the report also stated that Farrar & Co, the FA’s solicitors, said that Newton’s skin colour had been “utterly irrelevant”.

Glenn added: “It could very well be the case that Mark said some crass things. I don’t know, you won’t know and I suspect no one will know.

“If it’s true that he has made inappropriate comments to Eni Aluko and Drew Spence, I will apologise.”

Minister for Sport Tracey Crouch described the situation as “a mess”, while MP Damian Collins, who chairs the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said “the system is flawed”.

Former England international Danny Mills says that football’s governing body needs restructuring.

In 2013, the 40-year-old was appointed on to the new FA Commission which was created to look at ways to improve English football.

Mills told BBC Radio 5 live: “The FA needs streamlining. It needs to be run like a business, with probably three people – maybe four – at the very top that have power.

“All those people that are aged over 60, 70, 80 – which is an awful lot of them – should do the right thing, resign their positions and allow proper people to run the game in a businesslike manner.”