By Jonathan Stevenson BBC Sport Online

Adam Crozier, who has been appointed chief executive of the Royal Mail, is making a habit of taking on difficult jobs.

Most people will know him best as the recent chief of the Football Association - the man who hired Sven-Goran Eriksson and fell out with club chairmen over the way the game should be run.

Adam Crozier factfile

Born: 26 January 1964 Education: Heriot-Watt University Job History: Daily Telegraph (1986-1988) Saatchi & Saatchi (1988-1999) The FA (2000-2002) Royal Mail (2003-)

When appointed in early 2000, Crozier was a surprise choice.

The then 35-year-old had no experience of the business side of football yet was effectively charged with running the English game - to the dismay of some FA officials.

Do it quickly

In two-and-a-half years in the job, Crozier tried to revolutionise the way the game was run.

He stepped into the FA and saw an outdated, unfashionable institution that needed to catch up with the modern game.

And he knew he would have to do it quickly and take on much of the responsibility himself if it was going to work.

Crozier transformed the previously impenetrable inner sanctum of the FA

The former chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi had no shortage of experience in the world of business, and he immediately set about trying to make the FA a more effective and financially-driven company.

However, the radical nature of his task meant he was always going to step on toes.

The men behind football in England were sceptical to change, with some, including Chelsea chairman Ken Bates, vehemently opposing almost every idea the Scot came up with.

Close to Eriksson

But Crozier never lost sight of his goals, and many of his decisions changed the shape of English football forever.

He overcame public opinion to appoint Sven-Goran Eriksson as England's first foreign coach, a move that proved, at least initially, a huge success.

Some people at the Premier League argued that Crozier was acting beyond his powers and making decisions without consulting them

The pair had such a close working relationship that rumours of Crozier's position being under threat were met by Eriksson revealing he would have to carefully consider his own position.

Crozier also transformed the previously impenetrable inner sanctum of the FA and indeed moved the whole operations from Lancaster Gate to brand new open-plan offices in Soho Square.

The average age of staff at the FA went from 55 to 32 in Crozier's time.

And he made the FA richer than they had ever been before, finally getting it to run like a commercial operation.

Backlash

However, there is no smoke without fire.

Crozier scrapped the FA's 91-strong board which previously made decisions and replaced it with a 12-member committee as the organisation's ruling body.

The aim was to make decisions quicker and made by people who are working closely within the game and who understand modern-day football.

But this move provoked a backlash, with some people at the increasingly powerful Premier League arguing that Crozier was acting beyond his powers and making decisions without consulting either them or his own FA officials.

And despite making more money for the Premiership clubs, many were unhappy that he regularly failed to consult them and they believed they were missing out because of this.

The affable chief executive's detractors eventually seemed to outnumber his supporters.

But Crozier's reign at the FA changed English football forever.