FA plan to buy off blazers with perks as councillor anger threatens Greg Dyke's chances of being elected for another year

The FA are considering setting up a council of honour to allow the blazers who lose their positions in the upcoming governance reforms to keep all their Wembley match perks.

The anger among councillors at the prospect of being kicked off the FA Council has been such that it threatens FA chairman Greg Dyke’s chances of being elected for another year at the summer meeting.

But it has emerged that the reform working group, who will put their proposals to the council next month, have come up with a two-chamber solution that will allow them to change the make-up of the council to reflect the current game — but keep the blazers on side.

FA councillors' anger could threaten Greg Dyke's chances of being elected chairman for another year

The working council chamber would have a far more varied cross-section of football interests — including players, managers, referees, fans, women’s football and possibly even agents, a powerful body who have been lobbying hard for a Wembley voice.

The council of honour will have only a ceremonial role but if members can keep those all-important tickets and lavish VIP hospitality as a recognition of their work over the years, the blazers are likely to accept the changes.

The Premier League are dispensing with their lion logo next season as part of a rebranding exercise but the 23-year-old trophy will not be altered. The two facing lions on either side of the silverware will survive as the PL see their prize as having iconic status.

The Premier League’s logo of a crowned lion is going to be replaced as part of their major rebranding

BBC sports editor Dan Roan’s compelling radio interview with imprisoned cricket fraudster Allen Stanford, which took seven months to set up, has been widely acclaimed — except by Roan’s BBC colleague Jonathan Agnew, who tweeted: ‘Are we interested? Destroyed Lives’, and later suggested it wasn’t worth the airtime.

The ever-combative Roan then re-tweeted a picture of Aggers and wife Emma whose accompanying rather less journalistically challenging blog was about revisiting the Cape Town vineyard where they got engaged 20 years ago.

Cricket fraudster Allen Stanford, who is serving 110 years in prison, gave a radio interview to the BBC

The result of the Swansea vs Sunderland Premier League match on Wednesday night is seen as pivotal to the spending in the January transfer window. A win for Sunderland would see a number of teams drawn into the relegation mire and spark plenty of emergency transfers.

Mo outdraws Villa tie

Athletics is being battered by bad news at every turn. So it will bring relief to the sport that the Great Edinburgh XCountry last Saturday, in which Mo Farah finished second, drew an audience of 1.3million on BBC1, while the Aston Villa v Wycombe Cup tie, on BT Sport at the same time, was watched by only 316,000.

Meanwhile, presenter Jonathan Edwards faces a double blow. First, UK Athletics’ plan to beat the drug cheats would erase his 21-year-old triple jump world record of 18.29 metres.

Second, the BBC’s Queen Bee Clare Balding is set to displace Edwards as host of the cycling events at the Rio Olympics because they take place in prime time, while the swimming finals — which elevated her reputation at London 2012 — do not. Edwards’s consolation is to present the triathlon.

Mo Farah finished second in the Edinburgh XCountry last Saturday, watched by 1.3million on BBC1

The delay in Chris Gayle’s T20 move to Somerset next season has nothing to do with the massively negative reaction to his sexist chat with Big Bash interviewer Mel McLaughlin. Both parties have yet to agree terms, with Gayle not wanting to commit to the entire 2016 NatWest Blast.

The long-running Rugby Writers’ Club awards dinner always used to attract current players in significant numbers. Alas, only a handful of today’s rugby professionals attended this week’s function.

The players’ lack of interest follows the rugby writers’ change of direction — they now prefer a sanitised question-and-answer session, conducted this time by BT Sport’s rugby commentator, Alastair Eykyn. He kindly told rugby’s great and good that your Sports Agenda columnist is the only person in the media who doesn’t know the difference between on and off the record.

The dinner used to be famous for the varying quality of its guest speakers, but Mark ‘Ronnie’ Regan’s famously inappropriate speech two years ago has proved to be the last.