The Football Association has been accused of failing to act over one of the most high-profile and clear-cut sexual discrimination cases in the sport’s history as it emerged they had never even interviewed the victim - despite claiming to have undertaken an investigation from which they concluded an FA charge was not possible.

Lucy Ward, dismissed during the controversial reign of former Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino after 11 years as the club’s head of education and welfare, told Telegraph Sport that the FA's failure to pursue disciplinary action against three officials involved in her sacking gave others a green light to behave in a similar way.

Ward, now working for the Premier League as an education support manager and as a football co-commentator, oversaw the development of 250 players a year at Leeds. Star names brought through included Aaron Lennon, James Milner and Fabian Delph.

She was awarded £290,000 in April 2016 after winning her claim for unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination against the Elland Road club. Cellino had fired her at the same time as manager Neil Redfearn - her partner - as he believed they “came as a pair”.

The FA told The Telegraph it had investigated, but that was ridiculed by Ward: “They did an ‘investigation’ without speaking to the key protagonists, which is unheard of.” The FA came under fire last year when it emerged it had not interviewed key witnesses in the Eni Aluko affair. The former England striker had accused then manager Mark Sampson of making racist remarks toward her with an independent barrister later finding that this was an "ill-judged attempt at humour".