Crozier is at the centre of a power struggle with the Premier League, who were recently given greater say over the distribution of the game's finances by an FA executive vote.

But Caborn has come down on the side of Crozier and told the Sunday Telegraph: 'I think that Crozier is modernising the FA bit by bit - and, as we all know, it needed modernising.

'My view is that he needs to continue with his modernisation, and I think that by and large he is doing it very successfully.'

Caborn wants to see the FA remain as the sole governing body of the professional game in England and added: 'The last thing I want to see is any fragmentation.

'I don't think that would serve any useful purpose at all for anybody, including the Premier League, in the long term. We need to keep one regulative body.'

The FA's marketing director Paul Barber defended Crozier's record, telling the Sunday Telegraph: 'Any individual who has made such radical changes and transformed an organisation over a three-year period in the way that he has will inevitably upset one or two people along the way.

'It's not as if we are sitting on huge piles of money. All the money that has come in has gone back out again, and people in football at all levels are benefiting. Last year alone £65million flowed back out into the game of football.

'That cannot be anything other than very good news.'

However, Premier League clubs are still seeking greater influence. Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson today told BBC radio: 'What I would like to see is a select group of chairmen having strong positions on the FA board.