I WAS at a function recently in the House of Lords - it was actually the annual dinner of the Parliamentary football team - and in the room was a good cross section of all parties, all level of MPs and many Lords and Ladies, who all had a common interest and love for the game of football.

I was introduced to Lord Triesman, who has recently been appointed the new independent chairman of the Football Association.

I found him to be very interesting, in so far as he was keen to look at all levels of the game, as opposed to concentrating on what happens in the Premiership.

He would have to say that anyway because, as I found out when I was working as manager of the England under-21 and B teams, there are not just the 92 clubs which week-in, week-out get all of the major publicity.

There are literally about 40,000 other clubs, some of whom have five or six teams, and they all form the solid basis of the pyramid with the 92 sitting on top.

Over recent years, with the formation of the Premiership, the top 20 have become, because of TV finance, much stronger and more independent, even pulling away from the other 72, and have demanded more power to be taken away from the Football Association.

The FA have two main ace cards when it comes to the relationship with the professional game - they have the FA Cup, which is the biggest of its type of competition in the whole world, and most of all they have the England team.

See all of Lawrie's column in today's Daily Echo.