Chelsea chairman Ken Bates has called for Football Association chief executive Adam Crozier to be sacked.

Crozier has been at the centre of a power struggle between the FA and Premier League.

Bates told the Daily Express newspaper: "It is quite clear that he has exceeded his authority.

"This is not just my view it is the expressed opinion within the Premier League and his own staff at the FA."

Bates believes if Crozier does not go, FA chairman Geoff Thompson will lose his office.

"Certainly one of the two must go. Either Thompson for failing to exert his authority over Crozier, or Crozier himself."

The Premier League had a significant victory in the battle for power last week.

It won an FA executive meeting vote for a professional committee to run top-level football.

The committee would be below the FA board and would not have any influence over the England team or the FA Cup, but it would give clubs a much greater say over finances - including commercial agreements and how the FA spend their money.