Evidence has come to light to suggest that Graham Kelly's departure was the culmination of a near-year-long plot to oust him as the FA's chief executive.

It is understood that as long as four months ago a group of Premiership chairmen approached the FA chairman Keith Wiseman to express reservations about the poor job they felt Kelly was doing and to ask whether Wiseman would remove him. They were even prepared to support the idea of paying up Kelly's contract if that was the price of getting rid of him.

Wiseman refused to countenance Kelly's sacking but, when the indiscretion over the £3.2 million given to the FA of Wales was discovered, those plotting against Kelly pounced on it as a perfect vehicle to force his resignation. "A gift from the gods to those wanting Kelly out" is how one person close to the row described the cash deal.

The charges levelled against Kelly and Wiseman are that they failed to gain the proper authorisation from the FA finance committee for the money to be given and also, allegedly, used it to buy votes for English representation within FIFA.

But buying votes is a common form of trade in the international game, and the first charge is hardly a crime. And neither man is accused of benefiting personally from the deal which they felt they were doing in the best interests of the English game.

As one official put it: "You have a four-year bung inquiry and nothing happens, but you have a subcommittee looking into this and the chief executive of the FA is forced to resign."