FA chairman Greg Dyke will open himself up to accusations of cronyism in his appointment of a new general secretary to replace Alex Horne if he does not employ headhunters.

An FA board meeting this week discussed whether they could save money by selecting Horne’s successor through their own contacts rather than hire expensive recruitment specialists. A decision has yet to be made but the saving of £100,000-plus has to be measured against the need for such a scrutinised body as the FA having a transparent open process in finding their next lead executive.

The FA have used headhunters to fill all their senior positions over the last few years — including Dyke’s own appointment. And Horne leaving has given the FA an unexpected opportunity to analyse the type of CEO they want — best served through a rigorous independent search.

Alex Horne will leave his position as the Football Association's general secretary after 11 years in January

Jonathan Trott (left) offered the much-maligned Kevin Pietersen the chance to have dinner with him

Even Liverpool find it difficult sorting out fact from the fiction in the constant stories surrounding Mario Balotelli

Keeping the hunt in-house could lead to significant problems if it emerges that the choice had strong links with Dyke or any of the other FA power brokers making the selection.

At least the discarded Kevin Pietersen still has one friend from his England days. Jonathan Trott, well enough after his stress-related illness to go on the England Lions tour, offered the chance to have dinner with him and Pietersen to the Football Extravaganza charity auction.

It was bought for over £10,000 by Manchester United’s Class of 92. Meanwhile, Roy Keane’s autobiography is proving to have sustained buying interest rather more than KP’s book after they were both published in a blaze of publicity. Keane’s sales last week in the UK and Ireland were 20,000 hardbacks compared to KP’s 5,700.

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The owner of rundown Tatenhill airfield next door to St George’s Park deep in the Staffordshire countryside wrote to the FA looking for funding to help refurbish the facilities.

The FA were not interested in supporting Tatenhill despite fast air transport to London being one sure-fire way of making the £100million Park more popular with the England team who still use The Grove outside Watford as their other base during international weeks because of its proximity to Wembley.

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Even Liverpool find it difficult sorting out fact from the fiction in the constant stories surrounding their striker Mario Balotelli.

The latest gem doing the rounds is that Mario and friends were refused entry into a nightclub in Southport because some were wearing trainers. So they went back to a late-night bar in Formby where Mario lives and he treated everyone in the hostelry to drinks for making him welcome.

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Tickets prove a point

In a week when Northumberland County’s idiot vice president John Cummings said that ‘a woman’s place was in the kitchen and not on the football field’, the best news for women’s football is the expected crowd at Wembley for the England v Germany women’s international on November 23.

The FA were originally hoping for around 30,000 to be there. But already more than 41,000 tickets have been sold for what will be the biggest attendance ever for a women’s football match in the UK outside the Olympics. Cummings should be forced to watch as part of his four-month ban.

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BBC starting their ‘whole new revamped’ FA Cup coverage next Friday night with Warrington v Exeter presented by stand-in Dan Walker hasn’t impressed former rights holders ITV.

And ITV are underwhelmed that the Beeb are incorporating Twitter reaction, with all its dangers on live TV, into their interactive Final Score programme on the Sunday. BBC counter that their first-round offerings will be a significant ‘step up’ from last year’s coverage.

Dan Walker will kick-off the BBC's coverage of the FA Cup at Warrington next Friday night

David Beckham’s torturous route to finding a site for the stadium in Miami for his Major League Soccer franchise is expected to become clearer by the new year, with other investors coming on board.

However, the problems of finding a permanent site in Miami are such that the Beckham camp are considering a stadium share with the Dolphins or Marlins. Manchester City’s New York MLS side, who enter the league next year, have not yet sorted out a stadium location and will be playing at the Yankees.