Unpopular FA head honcho will leave Soho Square 

FA chief executive Brian Barwick will be leaving his post at the end of the year, amid speculation of a rift between him and independent FA chairman Lord Triesman. It is also thought that since Alex Horne’s appointment as chief operating officer in May, Barwick has had his responsibilities diminished. But don’t feel sad: on another miserable night for English football, this was the one positive. Here are five reasons why we’re not sad to see the back of Mister B:

England missed out on Big Phil because of him
Luiz Felipe Scolari recently revealed that he would have taken charge of England in 2006, but the FA told him they wanted to announce his appointment before the World Cup, something he felt would have unsettled his Portugal squad. (Note how the Brazilian had no problem unsettling his squad during Euro 2008.)

He appointed Schteve McClaren
The human resources-based mistakes didn’t stop at missing out on Scolari. After settling for second best (or third in many people’s minds behind Martin O’Neill), Barwick tried to convince everyone that Middlesbrough’s Steve McClaren was his “first choice and the FA board’s unanimous choice.” Despite offering such vocal support to the FC Twente boss at first, he didn’t waste any time firing him the second England failed to qualify.

He’s the reason hardly anyone gets to watch England
Okay, maybe it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing after last night, but last April Barwick negotiated a £425 million