The bulging in-tray awaiting David Bernstein at the FA

A purpose for the FA The prime challenge is to forge a clear identity as football's governing body, balancing the wealth at the top with the needs of supporters and the game at large. The Premier League bitterly resists regulation by the FA and, as an ex-Premier League club chairman himself, Bernstein must act robustly, not appear subservient to the big clubs Finances The new FA chairman will have as a fundamental task to steer the FA financially through a rocky period. The £342m debt from building the new Wembley and £30m annual cost of servicing it, must be managed while the loss of the Setanta TV deal and move from Soho Square have cost the FA £77m Football development Much flows from this. Bernstein could unravel many of the FA's diplomatic knots if he can find an agreed solution to one of football's core conflicts: rich and successful, mostly foreign-owned big clubs, who produce too few English players or managers for a failing national team. The long‑planned National Football Centre at Burton and the post-World Cup overhaul of youth development will be close to the top of Bernstein's in-tray Reform of the FA The government will sit behind the House of Commons select committee inquiry into football governance in the new year, and push for reform, including for independent directors at the FA. Bernstein knows he will be judged a failure if the FA has the same dysfunctional structure in three years as it does now International relations These were weak, as evidenced by Fifa's one measly vote – bar the FA's own – for England as 2018 World Cup host country, and are now in tatters after the bid team reacted by so publicly criticising Fifa, run by Sepp Blatter, above. Bernstein will have to rebuild alliances while finding a convincing stance on reform and anti-corruption at Fifa