Sign up to FREE email alerts from Manchester Evening News - daily Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The FA did the right thing in stopping former Crystal Palace player Darren Cann from being an assistant referee in the Eagles' FA Cup tie against Manchester City.

There was a clear conflict of interest, and Cann would have been wide open for accusations of bias had he, for instance, flagged a legitimate City equaliser offside – however genuine the mistake.

Avoiding such conflicts of interest should be high on the FA's agenda, as they need to be seen to be running the game in a genuine and honest way.

And yet, there is one glaringly obvious exception to this rule – the way David Gill is allowed to remain on the board at Manchester United and still take up influential roles at the FA, Uefa and Fifa.

There is no real evidence that Gill is using his position to the advantage of United, despite various claims down the years.

But, as with linesman Cann, the FA has to be SEEN to be above board and should not put people in positions in which they are open to such accusation.

Everywhere else in the English game, the FA are zealous about conflicts of interest.

Loan players are not allowed to play against their parent club in the Premier League – even though, as Manchester City found out to their cost with Celtic's Patrick Roberts in Europe this season, that player is more likely to play twice as hard.

It is because there is a clearly perceived conflict of interest.

Owners of football clubs are not allowed to have a stake in other clubs, for the same reason.

There were even murmurings, when Salford City had their FA Cup run last season, that Ryan Giggs' position as both Salford City co-owner and United coach, might be a conflict, crazy as that sounds.

Referees are asked to register their hometown and club allegiance so that they cannot be assigned to clubs with which they are associated – and can even be removed from games involving clubs which are those clubs' rivals for titles or relegation places.

A quick survey of Premier League refs' allegiances revealed that only four out of 19 claimed to support Premier League clubs – a suspiciously low figure.

City fans have long accused Gill of being unduly influential, blaming him for just about every ill that besets their club and every benefit that accrues to United – one fan even wryly coined the word the “Gilluminati” to describe the powers arraigned against the Blues!

Gill does not have the all-powerful influence they claim, although serving on the FA board, and the executive committees of both Fifa and Uefa makes him a strong voice.

But there are respected voices within the game who have spoken of the influence that United can exert, through Gill.

When Sam Allardyce got the England job, former FA director David Davies said that Sir Alex Ferguson had influenced the decision in favour of his pal, through the conduit of the man who serves on both boards.

Rafa Benitez, when manager at Liverpool in 2009, called Gill's dual roles into question.

“Is there a conflict of interest with David Gill at the FA?” he asked.

“That is another fact. It is a fact that one person has a lot of power and control, and is on a lot of committees in the FA. To me that is very strange.”

Ferguson dismissed the claim as “ridiculous” and Gill replied “I'm not representing Manchester United. We don't get special treatment because of that, that's not the way we operate.”

Since then, as chair of Uefa licensing committee, Gill has plenty of sway over the body that has ultimate power to ban clubs from Europe for breaching financial fair play rules.

City fell foul of those rules in 2013, and were given stringent restrictions on transfer spending, wages and squad size.

Gill also worked on a new model for the Champions League rankings which will factor in past successes at the expense of current excellence from next year onwards – a change that would see United rise from 20 to 12 and City fall from to 16.

It is true, of course, that the professional game needs representation on the boards of the FA and Uefa and Fifa committees, and there is nothing to suggest that Gill has acted in a manner anything less than honourable .

But, like Darren Cann, the very fact that his conflicting roles leave him open to the accusation SHOULD be enough for FA, Uefa and Fifa to put a stop to it.