Biography | Mark Bullingham — His First Day as FA Chief Was at Wembley

On 1 August 2019 Mark Bullingham began work as chief executive of the Football Association at Wembley Stadium.

The appointment had been announced on 29 March 2019. He succeeded Martin Glenn at the end of the 2018–19 season.

The FA's own news room put the first day in plain language: he would take up the new role at Wembley on Thursday 1 August.

He was an internal candidate. Chairman Greg Clarke said the best person for the job had come from inside the building.

The Times later reported that he had beaten banking executive Chris Pilling to the post.

The Association he inherited ran the England teams, the FA Cup, the women's Super League, grassroots football, and the rules of the English game from the same address.

Companies House lists him as Mark William Bullingham, born November 1974, with a correspondence address at Wembley Stadium, HA9 0WS.

That is an office pin, not a home. The stadium is a public venue.

On 18 September 2019 he was also appointed a director of the Football Foundation, the pitch-and-facility charity that shares the Wembley postal address.

The first-day story is small on purpose. The job is large because the building is.

Wembley is where the FA chose to put its staff after the rebuild. Standing under the arch is the closest a visitor can get to the room where that handover happened.

Photo: Jordan Reay, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons