Mistakes made over Capello deal

The FA controversially removed an exit clause in Capello’s four-year deal shortly before last year’s World Cup, a decision Horne admitted should have been referred to the board.

Instead, it was taken by a handful of executives, including Triesman, who was forced to resign as independent chairman following an unrelated tabloid sting before the amended contract was actually signed.

Horne, who was acting chief executive at the time, told a Department of Culture Media and Sport committee inquiry into football governance: “I’ll hold my hands up on behalf of David Triesman and say, in hindsight, it was a whole board decision and should have gone to the whole board. It did not go to the whole board.”

After the hearing, Horne added: “He made a mistake.”

Horne refused to identify the other executives involved in the decision but admitted at least some of them were still at the FA.

“I’m not comfortable sitting here naming four or five people,” he said. “The decision has been reviewed internally and we hold our hands up to a corporate governance mistake.”