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British Cycling CEO Brian Facer leaves post with immediate effect

Governing body looks for new head weeks after announcing controversial Shell partnership

British Cycling has announced that its CEO, Brian Facer, has stepped down from his role “with immediate effect,” with the decision said to have been taken “by mutual agreement with the board of directors.” The news comes a fortnight after the governing body was widely criticised after unveiling petrochemical giant Shell as its new official partner.

The organisation says that it has begun the process of selecting a new CEO, and that in the meantime its Cycling Delivery Director, Danielle Every, will be acting CEO.

British Cycling Chair, Frank Slevin, said:“We remain fully committed to the delivery of our ‘Lead our sport, inspire our communities’ strategy, as we continue our work to support and grow our sport and wider activities, and provide our Great Britain  Cycling Team riders with the best possible platform for success.

“Our new CEO will join the organisation at an exciting time as we build towards next year’s inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships in Scotland, and the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024,” he added.

Earlier this month, British Cycling was accused of sportswashing by organisations including Greenpeace as a result of its announcement of an eight-year deal for Shell to become an official partner of the organisation.

At the time the partnership was announced, Facer claimed that it would help British Cycling meet its net zero targets.

> “Greenwashing, pure and simple” - fury as Shell UK sponsors British Cycling

He said: “We’re looking forward to working alongside Shell UK over the rest of this decade to widen access to the sport, support our elite riders and help our organisation and sport take important steps towards net zero – things we know our members are incredibly passionate about.  

“Within our new commercial programme, this partnership with Shell UK brings powerful support for cycling, will help us to improve and will make more people consider cycling and cyclists.”  

This year, British Cycling has also come under criticism after suspending its transgender policy following the UCI’s decision to bar the transgender athlete Emily Bridges from the women’s British Omnium Championship in Derby.

> British Cycling suspends transgender policy pending review of current system as fallout from Emily Bridges case continues

There was further controversy in September when it was forced to issue an apology after initially suggesting that cyclists should avoid riding their bikes during Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral and procession.

> “We’re sorry – we got this one wrong”: British Cycling apologises for advising cyclists not to ride their bikes during state funeral

Facer took up his position just under two years ago in November 2020, having previously worked as CEO of the Premiership rugby union side London Irish, overseeing its return to the capital after two decades of playing in Reading.

He replaced Julie Harrington, who had become the governing body’s CEO in March 2017. Her appointment came at a turbulent time for the organisation as it faced an independent review by UK Sport following allegations of bullying and discrimination, and a UK Anti-doping probe into potential wrongdoing at British Cycling and Team Sky.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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23 comments

Avatar
Doctor Fegg | 1 year ago
1 like

Small footnote: British Cycling is the sport governing body. It's not a general governing body for cycling in general. BC has been trying to weasel its way into everyday and utility cycling over the past few years, generally with dire results. Asking BC for advice on 95% of cycling is like asking the FIA to rule on motorists' behaviour.

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Awavey replied to Doctor Fegg | 1 year ago
1 like

But the FIA does run campaigns on motorists behaviour, funded by all the fines they collect in motorsport, in fact they even rope some cyclists into some of the campaigns

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Awavey | 1 year ago
5 likes

It feels like there should be more to this story, because Im assuming this is a result of the board voting they had no confidence in him anymore, we might assume because of things like the Shell deal and maybe the membership cancellations have been significant and the impending AGM might have concentrated minds as Im sure that would have been entertaining, but unless he was overruling the board, going against their advice,and theres no evidence of that in the published board meeting minutes, then surely they made those decisions all collectively ?

So why is he the only one walking out the door ?

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Legin replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
2 likes

Awavey wrote:

So why is he the only one walking out the door ?

That is a fair question.

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Bigfoz replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
0 likes

Absolutely. Need to know if he went off piste and organised the sponsorship without talking to anyone else on the board. If that's the case, where's the oversight, and the board should go. If he did consult, they're all guilty and the board should go. Only exceptions should be anyone minuted in board discussions arguing against it.

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
3 likes

Meet the new Home Secretary.  Prime minister in a month.

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hawkinspeter replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
8 likes

eburtthebike wrote:

Meet the new Home Secretary.  Prime minister in a month.

We're just three prime ministers away from Xmas now

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eburtthebike replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
0 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

eburtthebike wrote:

Meet the new Home Secretary.  Prime minister in a month.

We're just three prime ministers away from Xmas now

Will Father Christmas be Boris in a white beard?

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Bigfoz replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
0 likes

Might be. But I'm no sitting on his lap, even for a NOS C50 Crono and Campag 10speed...

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hawkinspeter replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
0 likes

eburtthebike wrote:

Will Father Christmas be Boris in a white beard?

I certainly don't want him coming down my chimney

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Flintshire Boy | 1 year ago
0 likes

.

Good.

.

I communicated with this guy, and got the most patronising, dismissive response you can imagine.

.

He, and the organisation, have become insufferably woke.

.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Flintshire Boy | 1 year ago
10 likes

Insufferably woke? In what way?

And if you communicated in the same way you communicate on here, he might have thought he was dealing with an 8 yo. Did you put in some fake swearing, your spelling of certain words, and the same punctuation? 

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chrisonabike replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
7 likes

.

He's uptight

.

about not allowing words space

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to breathe?

.

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eburtthebike replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
2 likes

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

And if you communicated in the same way you communicate on here, he might have thought he was dealing with an 8 yo.

I'm not sure he's that old.

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Hirsute replied to Flintshire Boy | 1 year ago
9 likes

I'd ask you to define woke but as you don't reply to anything, there is little point.

I can't imagine with your writing style and misunderstanding of articles and comments on here why you would get a dismissive response.

 

 

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IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
5 likes

Shell... or some other scandal that hasn't yet been revealed?

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Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
1 like

How much was his golden parachute?

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stonojnr replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
6 likes

Paid in green shield stamps Id hope, and maybe he'll have collected enough for a set of mugs or glass tumblers.

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kil0ran replied to stonojnr | 1 year ago
1 like

Tiger tokens, surely?

Ah, no, that would be the Belgium national team

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Awavey replied to stonojnr | 1 year ago
2 likes

I think as BC members we're probably the mugs  2

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brooksby replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
1 like

I wondered whether he had "revolving door"ed over to a job with Shell?

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Fignon's ghost replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
1 like

Shell shares anyone?

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hawkinspeter replied to Fignon's ghost | 1 year ago
9 likes

Fignon's ghost wrote:

Shell shares anyone?

Someone told me that if you hold a Shell up you can hear the sea.

All I got was 6 years for armed robbery.

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