Mark Sampson sacked due to "inappropriate and unacceptable" behaviour

The FA have announced that Mark Sampson has been sacked as head coach of England Women.

Sampson has been the subject of two FA investigations, and fresh evidence of the "full detail" of complaints against him have forced the FA to take conclusive action against the man previously deemed fit to continue for the national team. 

The allegations stretch back to March 2014, and were recently brought to public eye by Eniola Aluko's outcry at his behaviour. 

Chief executive of the FA Martin Glenn held a special press conference alongside chairman Greg Clarke, explaining the decision to sack Sampson.

“I have to say it is the most awkward and complicated issue I have ever dealt with,” said Glenn.

“In 2014 there was a safeguarding-related complaint made about Mark when he was coach at Bristol Academy. He had been an FA employee for just a few months at that point. There was a full investigation, a proper investigation, an assessment process and when the report concluded in March 2015 he was deemed not to be a safeguarding risk.

“However the full report of that investigation was only made known to me last week,” he added. “On reading it I immediately shared it with Greg and we were both deeply concerned with the contents of the report. Let’s be really clear: no laws were broken; Greg and I are not able to challenge the professional views of our safeguarding experts. We thought the conduct issues raised in the report were what the problem was.

“Mark had overstepped the professional boundaries between player and coach.”