Mark Sampson offered job as Under-17 coach – 24 hours after being sacked by England

The 34-year-old was given the boot as England Women’s manager on Wednesday, a day after leading the team to a 6-0 win over Russia, for “inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour” in his previous role at the Bristol Academy.

Chelmsford City’s youngsters play in the Eastern Junior Alliance league and they are on the hunt for a new coach.

It prompted them to tweet Sampson directly, writing: “We are looking to add another coach to our team. If you are interested then feel free to get in contact. @Mark_Sampson ? Fancy it.”

The FA are facing questions over its competence after the Women in Football lobby group claimed the governing body was warned about Mark Sampson.

It has now been alleged that this behaviour was first reported to the FA around the time of his appointment in December 2013, and these claims became the focus of a year-long investigation by the governing body’s safeguarding unit.

That investigation cleared him from a safeguarding point of view and he was allowed to continue his preparations for the 2015 Women’s World Cup, where England finished third.

The FA, however, has now admitted the safeguarding team insisted Sampson go on an course to address his behaviour at Bristol, but no senior official thought to ask for more details or read the unit’s report until last week.

It was this belated discovery of what Sampson had been accused of – understood to have been prompted by tip-offs from within the women’s game – which led the FA to sack him.

With Sampson having spent a year defending himself from claims of bullying and racism made by England striker Eni Aluko – he has been cleared by two investigations and strenuously denies any wrongdoing – many involved in football are staggered nobody at the FA would have revisited the safeguarding case sooner.

In a statement, WiF said it was “deeply concerned” by the revelations surrounding Sampson’s appointment, which it believes should never have happened.

“WiF understands questions over Sampson’s suitability for the role were flagged to the FA as early as 2013 during the recruitment process,” it said.

“The safeguarding investigation of 2014, Sampson being sent on an education course in 2015, Eniola Aluko’s complaint in 2016 and Dame Tanni Grey Thompson’s Duty of Care report published in April 2017 were all missed opportunities for the governing body to more closely examine the issues.

“Indeed it is unfathomable that an England manager could be sent on a course to emphasise the appropriate boundaries between coach and player, as a direct result of a safeguarding investigation, and not be subject to any sort of due diligence.”

It is understood Sampson was one of several British and overseas coaches interviewed for the job and it involved at least two rounds of interviews.

The first panel was comprised of technical director Dan Ashworth, managing director Adrian Bevington, director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking and women’s football director Kelly Simmons. The then-chief executive Alex Horne and chairman Greg Dyke joined the process later. Of those, only Ashworth and Simmons are still at the FA.

Martin Glenn did not take up the role of chief executive until March 2015, so cannot be held responsible for the decision to appoint Sampson, but he chose not to ask for details of the safeguarding investigation until last week and has backed the Welshman in the bitter dispute with Aluko, including agreeing to pay her £80,000 to settle the case earlier this year.

That decision and the entire handling of her complaints are already under intense scrutiny, and the FA has been forced to reopen an investigation into the matter by independent barrister Katharine Newton.

The emergence of the Bristol allegations only compounds what has already been a bruising year for Glenn and his senior team.

It is only 12 months ago that Sam Allardyce was dismissed as manager of the men’s team for unguarded comments to an undercover reporter, and the FA is still under the microscope for what it knew about predatory paedophiles working in football in the past.

With sports minister Tracey Crouch describing the situation as “a mess”, Damian Collins, the chairman of the influential Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, has accused the FA of an “inexcusable” lack of leadership.

Speaking on Sky News, he said: “(Sampson) should never have been appointed in the first place and action should have been taken a long time ago.

“And what’s inexcusable then is the way they didn’t refer back to this old information when Eni Aluko’s allegations about a culture of bullying within the England camp were made known.”

Aluko and her fellow Sampson critic and England colleague Lianne Sanderson are appearing before the DCMS committee on October 18. That was originally intended to investigate the handling of Aluko’s racism complaint, but will now look for answers on the whole Sampson affair.