Palios questions FA impartiality

08 May 2011 11:00

Former Football Association chief executive Mark Palios believes the case against QPR over the third-party ownership of Alejandro Faurlin has raised the question of the impartiality of the FA.

The FA announced on Saturday that it would not be deducting points from Rangers over the charges against the club and instead imposed a fine of £875,000, meaning the club were confirmed as npower Championship title-winners.

Palios believes the independent regulatory commission should not have had any FA board members on it, telling BBC Radio 5 Live: "If you have got senior members of the FA board on this, will they be looking over their shoulder to the potential financial consequence (of a points deduction) for the FA themselves?"

"They shouldn't be prosecutor, judge and jury."

Palios also raised the issue of the timing of the commission and the announcement and suggested a regulation could be introduced to make sure such matters were dealt with more quickly in future.

"If the reason for the delay was trying to fit people's diaries together then overall there is a need for regulation," he said.

Palios also stood by his assertion before the FA announcement that there was a precedent for a points deduction - something which had angered QPR manager Neil Warnock because of the timing.

"Based on the charges and based on the sanctions available to the FA there was a precedent for a points deduction," Palios said.

"They were not found guilty of the (relevant) charges."

Source: PA