Susanna Dinnage set to replace Richard Scudamore and become one of the most powerful people in football

Susanna Dinnage is set to replace Richard Scudamore as one of the most powerful people in football and become Premier League chief executive when he steps down next month.

Dinnage will leave her senior executive role at the Discovery channel to join the Premier League in early 2019.

Dinnage will have spent 10 years at Discovery by the time she leaves, having previously worked for a decade at Channel 5, after starting her career at MTV. She narrowly missed out on becoming chief executive of Channel 4 earlier this year, instead becoming the Global President of Animal Planet, one of Discovery’s biggest networks, having previously run their UK and Ireland business, which included Eurosport.

Dinnage clashed fiercely with Sky, the leading Premier League broadcaster, in January, accusing them of not paying a fair price to carry the Discovery channel and securing her company a better deal. She is also said to have a strong network of contacts in government.

Scudamore leaves the organisation after almost two decades, during which he has grown the Premier League into one of the most recognisable brands on the planet, securing its clubs billions of pounds in television rights deals and transforming the landscape of English football. His duties will be split between Dinnage and a non-executive chairman, who the Premier League are currently recruiting.

‘Great privilege’

“I am excited at the prospect of taking on this fantastic role,” Dinnage said yesterday. “The Premier League means so much to so many people. It represents the pinnacle of professional sport and the opportunity to lead such a dynamic and inspirational organisation is a great privilege.

“With the support of clubs and the team, I look forward to extending the success of the league for many years to come.”

Dinnage’s appointment was agreed by the Premier League Nominations Committee, which includes Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck, Susan Whelan, the Leicester City chief executive, Mike Garlick, Burnley’s chairman, and Premier non-executive directors Claudia Arney and Kevin Beeston. There was some concern yesterday that Buck had asked each Premier League club to donate £250,000 towards a £5million leaving bonus for the departing Scudamore.

“She is a leading figure in the broadcasting industry, a proven business executive and a great developer of people,” Buck said. “She is ideally suited to the role and we are confident she will be able to take the Premier League on to new heights.”

One of the early tough tasks for Dinnage will be to continue negotiations between the Premier League, Football Association and government on how English football will operate after Brexit.

The FA will propose to representatives from the 20 clubs at a Premier League meeting tomorrow that the mandatory number of homegrown players in each 25-man squad increases from eight to 13.

The FA are hoping to secure the deal by agreeing to sign off Governing Body Endorsements (GBEs) for any foreign player aged 18 or over, making it far easier for clubs to sign any overseas players. Currently those players outside the EU have to meet unrealistically high criteria for them to secure a work permit, which would extend to EU players after the UK leaves the Union.