Gone after less than a year in the role, Sherman was frustrated by governance structures which, in his words, saw people with “expertise in the game” overruled by those “who don’t have expertise”.
“I’m one of those people who wants to do a job, rather than just wanting a job,” Sherman told The World Game.
“I just couldn’t make the inroads I wanted.
"When I first spoke to the (FFA) board they were enthusiastic but 10 or 11 months in I haven’t really done anything. I’ve just talked a lot.
“I can’t do the job - and that makes you feel like a fraud and not I’m not prepared to be one.
“In my view the game is only delivering 50 percent of its true potential. There’s a lot of self-inflicted damage.”
While he feels he was marginalised by those with opposing agendas, Sherman said it’s crucial for the game’s future that Johnson is able to scale the hurdles placed in front of him by stakeholders with vested interests.
“James will be a victim of the structure - there’s a guy in there with a football background who really understands the game,” explained Sherman.
“It’s a real opportunity for somebody to make a big difference and he has all the qualities to do that.
“But it’s difficult for somebody to do the job they’re really capable of (in the current circumstances) - and I think he’s more than capable.
“The game just has to give him the best chance possible.
“He’s walked into a once-in-a-lifetime storm with the COVID-19 virus but there is also a real opportunity there for change.
“Australian football is very reliant on external factors - and there has to be a better way.
“You have to trust people who know something about football to provide solutions - that’s what you pay them for.”
Sherman delivered a report detailing a raft of proposed changes to the board late last year, all with the ultimate aim of fixing Australia’s fractured development pathways from the from grassroots to A-League club academies and beyond.
“We had a lot of input but it was left to stagnate,” he added. “There was no real reason for that other than the fear of not keeping everybody happy and that’s a bad starting point.”
Sherman believes scrapping the state federations would solve part of the problem, calling for “regional offices” instead.
He admitted, though, that enacting such a vision would be like “asking turkeys to vote for Christmas” since the federations are part of the constitution.
“Having nine of everything is totally inefficient,” he added. “I was looking to implement an academy structure but you had to consult the all the stakeholders and everybody has an opinion - things were taking just far too long.”
That said, he claimed there were enough “clever people” in the game “to come up with a governance structure that would work”.
He also championed the A-League switching to a winter season, in tandem with Asia, saying the current hiatus across football presented a window of opportunity to make that a reality.
Sherman also backs the launch of a national second tier which he believes should be up and at it by 2022, providing untapped talent to make genuine strides in the game.
And what of the future?
“Unless there’s radical change you’ll just see more of the same,” he warned. “The corks in the bottle tops know who they are.
“I’ve had a long association with Australian football ... I played there in the eighties and I just want to see the best thing for it.
“I’d like to get back into coaching at some point, because that what I am first and foremost. The fact you can do a bit of administration gets you into trouble.”
