The PFA was forced to hand back £2.5million it had taken from its own charity amid an era of ‘serious mismanagement’, an explosive report by a government watchdog has disclosed.

Amid a series of damning conclusions following a seven-year probe The Charity Commission – whose investigation was triggered by revelations in this newspaper– say that the trade union was taking around £6m a year from its charity which paid for around 80 per cent of its own running costs.

The probe found £1.9m handed to the charity by the FA was transferred to the PFA ‘without adequate explanation or governance’. It also uncovered that the charity allowed the union to occupy properties it owned across London and Manchester rent-free, in some instances for more than a decade. The figure in unpaid rent, which it was also ordered to repay, totalled £627,000.

Both £2m a year PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor and his £350,000-a-year right-hand man Darren Wilson were among the PFA Charity’s trustees.

Taylor stood down after 40 years in 2020. Wilson was disqualified from being a trustee or holding a position in a charity with a senior management function for four years earlier in the Commission’s investigation.

The probe opened in 2018 and was followed by the opening of a statutory inquiry in 2019. Funding a trade union is not considered a charitable purpose in law.

The PFA Charity was set up in 2013. It received around £25m per year from the Premier League and £2m from the FA. In return for £6m it received from the charity every 12 months, the PFA provided ‘coaching and training’. There was no contract, proper review or value-for-money assessment until the Commission raised concerns in 2019, the report found.

Over two transactions, £1.9m received by the charity from the FA in 2017 was transferred to the PFA ‘without a clear explanation’. ‘Subsequently, an alternative explanation was provided by trustees, who suggested that the funds belonged to the union but were held by the charity pending confirmation of their donation to the charity by the union,’ the Commission said. ‘The inquiry found that the changing explanation provided regarding the £1.9 million demonstrated poor financial management and controls at the charity.’

The report found that multiple trustees held positions with both the charity and the PFA, with three on the union committee which set salaries. ‘This created inherent conflicts of interest, particularly as the charity funded union salaries to the sum of £5m annually’ the report stated.

The Commission issued an official warning in September 2022 to the charity for mismanagement. It says remedial actions have now been implemented, which include proper separation from the union. The charity has since been renamed The Players’ Foundation. However, Brendon Batson is its chairman, while former players Garth Crooks and Gareth Griffiths remain as Trustees. The FA and Premier League no longer fund the charity. 

In 2022, Daily Mail Sport revealed an extraordinary, pre-emptive attempt by Batson, Crooks, Griffiths and Wilson to stop the Commission finding them guilty of ‘mismanagement’ had been unceremoniously thrown out by a High Court judge.

John Stiles, of Football Families For Justice, welcomed the findings.

‘We are very gratified that the Commission’s findings have been so clear in this devastating report,’ he said. ‘I am shocked but not surprised to read what is a damning and comprehensive indictment of the charity's trustees.’

Stiles, son of World Cup winner Nobby, called on the trustees who remain to step down.

‘It is blindingly obvious that their positions are completely untenable and I would expect resignations to follow this extraordinary report,’ he said. ‘The financial misconduct highlighted in this report would make Robert Maxwell blush.

‘The Players Foundation has failed to provide the care needed by the hundreds of families affected by this national scandal. The incestuous financial dealings as between the charity and the union highlight, yet again, the abject and sustained failures of the union to help the former players and their families.’

Angela Ascroft, critical case lead at the Charity Commission said: ‘In this case, the lines between the charity and Professional Footballers’ Association union were blurred beyond distinction, resulting in the multiple instances of conflict of interest and mismanagement at the charity.

‘Charity trustees have a duty to act in the best interests of their charity, but trustees at the Players Foundation fell dismally short of this expectation and, as a result, let down the players they were supposed to be helping.’

A spokesperson from The Players Foundation said: 'The Board of Trustees at The Players Foundation acknowledges the publication of the Charity Commission’s final report and welcomes the fact that the inquiry has now formally closed.

'When the Commission issued its initial findings in September 2022, it accepted that measures had already been implemented by the Foundation to deal with any concerns. No funds were lost; action was taken to correct the financial position of the charity and at no stage were beneficiaries adversely affected.

'The Players Foundation and The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) are entirely separate organisations with very different remits – the Foundation officially changed its name from the PFA Charity in July 2022.

'The Trustees’ focus today remains on delivering the best possible charitable support to all our beneficiaries.'

The PFA declined to comment.