Trevor: A Wrench To Leave

Trevor Brooking admits it will be "a wrench" cutting his formal ties with West Ham at the end of the year - but is also looking forward to the challenge of taking up his post at the Football Association.

Trevor is, of course, going to be director of football development at the F.A. and as a result he is resigning as non-executive director at West Ham, and he says:

"I just relinquish my directorship at the end of this month; it is a wrench but it has all been documented now, the role is one that hopefully can benefit all clubs as well as West Ham.

"It is a challenge that you have to give a go otherwise you always wonder if one day you could have made the difference.

"From the club's point of view they have been terrific; the family have been given seats in the box for my life time and have said that they would be only too pleased to welcome us back whenever.

"It is a very amicable situation although it is, as I say, a wrench - but it is not a case that I won't be in touch because naturally, with it being my side, most people expect me to stay in touch anyway.

"It is more about that involvement from the board, because there would be issues at some stage where you have a conflict of interest being linked with a particular club and working full time there - that is the only reason, really.

"It is difficult because it was obviously a special sort of link and after what happened in the last few months it was even more unique, I suppose.

"That affinity will still be there and I appreciated the reaction to the appointment - it has been terrific.

"Lots of West Ham fans have wished me luck and said thanks for what you have done, and have all been really supportive.

"The other thing that has been quite pleasing is that fans of different clubs have also wished me luck on the appointment.

"So the goodwill is there to start with - perhaps in six months it might be the opposite!

"But no, I think everyone genuinely wants football to be helped full stop - and if we can do a bit of that then I will only be too pleased."

Trevor says he has no preconceived ideas about the role, but will consult across the spectrum of the sport before making any major decisions.

"The important thing is to listen and learn and take things in," he explains.

"I am not saying I know all the answers and what I need to do in those first few months is absorb a lot and then try three or four things.

"It is a bit like when I was at Sport England - if you try and do too much you end up skimming the surface of loads of things and never doing anything properly.

"So you have got to try and look at some priorities early on, and whatever you do is going to be a long term plan. "As it is the governing body of football what you want to do is develop the game down the grass roots, widen the participation, and improve the quality if you can.

"In all those areas you have got to see how you can do that as quickly and effectively as possible, seeing what is in place at the mopment and what might need tweaking to improve that.

"There is no great masterplan, and hopefully working with a lot of good people that I am sure are in there, and listening to people outside it, you can try and move things forward in the right direction."

As for working with Sven-Goran Eriksson, he reveals:

"That will be a part of the remit, and seeing how I can help him, but more than anything seeing how he can focus with the players with a big tournament coming up - and not get the distractions perhaps, in these friendly matches, that have been there in recent months.

"I am happy to get involved as little or as much as possible just to help in those areas.

"But he has got his coaching staff and everything and the players have done a terrific job qualifying so they don't need me putting my oar in too much."