Team building

Could a heady combination of football and Greg Dyke lead to a second career change for Peter Salmon, the BBC's King of  Director of England (but Not London) ?

In 2000, Greg arrived as BBC DG, and Peter was running BBC1. Prior to his accession, Greg had been critical of the network's performance, and so Peter moved to become Director of Sport, making way for Lorraine Heggessey. But Greg also doshed up sport to win back football rights, and a jolly time was had all round.

Now Greg, as Chairman of the Football Association, is looking for a successor to Alex Horne, Secretary General, and, according to the usually-well-informed-on-BBC-matters Charles Sale, Peter is under consideration. Peter, born within a mile or so of Turf Moor, is a Burnley fan "but not a fanatic, like Alastair Campbell", and chose Warwick University because it had a picture of Steve Heighway in the prospectus.  Horne's current salary is £528k, so a move might resolve the slight anomaly of Peter's current deal - at £387,900, he's at number 3 in the BBC salary league table, with no seat on the Executive.  And, of course, he might not have to set up a family home within range of Salford.