Knowledge is power as sports minister Tracey Crouch goes into battle
She is the FA-qualified football coach of a girls under-18 side who has called for Russia to be stripped of hosting the 2018 World Cup, backed fan power and uses Twitter to hold forth on everything from the X Factor to her love of Spurs and Puma King football boots. So while the new sports minister, Tracey Crouch, may be more knowledgeable about her sector than many of her predecessors, and is certainly already well thought of among grassroots sports organisations, her tenure is likely to be anything but dull.
The 39-year-old MP for Chatham and Aylesford is a staunch Spurs fan and a vocal supporter of the womens game. She is described by colleagues as energetic and opinionated and will need every ounce of both to remind them of the power of sport now that it has slipped back down the policy Agata Ruiz De La Prada Shop On Line agenda in the wake Biggest Prada Outlet In Italy of the London Olympics replica prada saffiano bags, to the detriment of the Bicester Village Prada Bag Price promised 2012 legacy.
Crouch also sat on the culture, media and sport select committee chaired by John Whittingdale, who has been appointed above her as secretary of state for culture, media and sport.
The committee played a pivotal role in the unfolding drama over Fifa corruption allegations Agatha Ruiz Dela Prada Dresses Uk and its thorough inquiry into football governance called for fundamental reform of the Football Association and for greater fan influence in how clubs are run. Hugh Robertson, the former sports and Olympics minister, used it as Agatha Ruiz Dela Prada Outlet Online the basis for a long-running negotiation with footballs complicated matrix of powerbrokers to try and bring about change.
But although he succeeded in introducing two independent directors to the FA board, he was ultimately frustrated by footballs filibustering in attempts to overhaul the FA. Crouch might prefer to focus instead on how the Premier League will deal with pressure to reinvest more of its expected 8bn-plus TV bounty in grassroots sport and cutting ticket prices. There is a widespread Authentic Prada Shoes Outlet belief that a new deal is required and the Premier Leagues Gloucester Place headquarters is likely to be one of the first stops on her itinerary.
However, her working knowledge of the grassroots game C she coached Medways Meridian Girls up to underC18 level C and insight into footballs corridors of power should at least give her a modest head start when it comes to hard-headed negotiations with the Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore and his recently appointed FA counterpart Martin Glenn. She already has form in clashing with the FA, reacting furiously when it took over the running of the Parliamentary football team and refused to let her play alongside men.
Without a home Olympics to focus attention, the fear is that sport will continue to slip down the pecking order Agatha Ruiz Dela Prada E Shop as further cuts are meted out on departmental budgets. Whittingdales focus is likely to be largely consumed by the looming battle over the future of the BBC so Crouch will be left to battle for sports share of exchequer funding.
She will be helped by the fact that around two thirds of the money that flows to UK Sport to invest in elite Olympic disciplines and to Sport England to invest in the grassroots comes from the lottery rather than the treasury. Elite funding is ring-fenced until after the 2016 Olympics but with 12bn in cuts planned across Whitehall it is inevitable that sport will face its share. More damaging still will be the hidden effects of further cuts to local