South coast football stalwart among those who will choose the next Football Association chairman

He is part of a six-person panel which includes three women and one man who is currently employed by a professional club.

The latter is Liam Rosenior, who is a coach at Championship club Derby County and who was appointed to the FA's inclusion advisory board earlier this year

The panel will be chaired by Stacey Cartwright, who is a non-executive independent director of the FA.

Cartwright has been chief executive at Harvey Nichols and Burberry, while she was once a non-executive director at Liverpool FC.

The other panellists are interim FA chairman Peter McCormick and board members Rupinder Bains, Kate Tinsley and Pearce.

Pearce has been an FA board member since 2015. Among a multitude of hats he wears in football, he is also on the board of the National League.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said he was excited at the level of candidate the FA would be able to attract for the position.

But asked if there was anyone out there who possessed both a playing pedigree and the corporate experience, he said: ‘Possibly it's a tough ask. I'm not saying no, but I do think it's difficult.

‘There are two main areas of the role. There's one to be an absolutely brilliant ambassador and represent us on both the international and domestic stage.

‘Players can absolutely do that.

‘There's a second requirement to run the board. To be clear this is a non-executive role, it was a non-executive role with Greg. The role is not to run the FA, it's to run the board.

‘But we do have a complex stakeholder board and I think it’s hard to see that someone who has never run a board would be able to step in and run a complex stakeholder board of a £450million organisation.

‘That's not to rule anyone out, that's just to tell you my views on the different skill sets required.

‘You know my views, we are doing a board review and I would love to have player representation on the board.

‘But if you are asking me does that have to be the chair role, my personal answer would be no. But I'm clearly not the only person who has influence over that decision."

Paul Elliott, who is the chair of the FA's inclusion advisory board, and Bobby Barnes, the deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, have been suggested as contenders for the role.

Both do appear to have the necessary mix of skills as well as a background in professional football.

The FA Board currently has nine members following Clarke’s resignation for comments made to MPs recently.

Bullingham, Pearce, McCormick, Cartwright, Bains - the only board member from a BAME background - and Tinsley are six of them.

The others are EFL chairman Rick Parry, Dorset FA chief executive Sue Hough and Northants FA chairman Robert Cotter.

Elliott and former Manchester United chief executive David Gill are the two FA board observers.