FA has described the role and its expansive remit as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to reshape football in Australia at the elite level,and it comes at a time of deep introspection within the game over longstanding player development issues and concerns over the future of the men’s and women’s senior national teams.
Johnson said the idea,hatched by FA in late 2021,was inspired by international trends at clubs and associations and also at FIFA,where he previously worked as head of professional football. Arsene Wenger was in late 2019 appointed as FIFA’s chief of global football development to work alongside president Gianni Infantino in pushing major reforms to world football,including a redrawing of the international calendarand,controversially,a move to biennial World Cups.
“We don’t have the money to get Arsene Wenger,of course,but it’s the same sort of concept,” Johnson said.
“It’s a higher-level,more strategic role,it’s going to have more autonomy,and it’s not just about overseeing coach education,technical strategies,coaching philosophy and the curriculum - the expectation is that role supports me in introducing some of these reforms that are much needed.
“You want someone who is going to be a disruptor,who is not going to be scared to put views on the table or to be sometimes not be the popular person,but the person talking logic with facts and figures and highlight the glaring issues.”
Johnson said the CFO would not necessarily be a replacement for a technical director,with the successful candidate - to be in place by the middle of the year - to determine whether both roles would be required. FA has not had a full-time technical director in placesince Rob Sherman quit in March 2020,with Trevor Morgan serving in an interim basis for the last 18 months during a period of inactivity for the junior national teams he usually coaches.