Football Association chief executive Mark Palios last night ordered an urgent review into the rules governing the selection of England players under police investigation.

Palios denied his job is under threat after the chaos which has surrounded the FA's ''ad-hoc'' policy governing their recent decisions over the treatment of Nicky Butt, Alan Smith and James Beattie.

However, he ordered an internal inquiry into the communications breakdown which led to Smith being sent home when the FA learned that he had been arrested by police since being called up.

He has also instigated a major review of the rules governing the availability of players for England duty, admitting that decisions are effectively now being made up as the FA go along.

In the past, the FA have suspended players from international duty only after they were charged by police, with this having affected John Terry and current Newcastle players Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate.

However, there was a shift when Rio Ferdinand failed to take a drugs test and the FA were unable to bring the inevitable charge against him before the squad joined up for last month's Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey.

Although that was an internal disciplinary issue, rather than a police matter, Ferdinand's exclusion still seemed to set a precedent when Smith's case was then judged by the FA on Thursday.

The Leeds striker was thrown out of the squad when it was established that he had been arrested amid allegations that he had thrown a plastic bottle into the crowd in a Carling Cup tie against Manchester United.

Indeed, the FA admitted that the only reason Butt had not faced a similar fate earlier this season was that they were unaware of his arrest on an assault allegation in June, even after the matter was dropped last month.

The FA were then also forced to consider the fate of Beattie, who was convicted of drink-driving last year and handed a sentence of 100 hours community service, as well as a 30-month driving ban.

After an emergency review, they resolved the forward should stay in the squad as his case had been ''disposed of by the court'' and they were not looking at matters ''retrospectively".

It all added up to considerable confusion, with Palios decreeing that a formal review process should start immediately.

''There's no laid-out criteria or system for squad selection,'' he admitted.

''I would accept that we need to put down a clear policy which can anticipate situations going forward and I've asked the FA's international committee to start drafting that.''

After talks with the FA's international committee over Smith's case, initially it seemed as though Palios believed players should be suspended from international duty from the moment they were arrested.

However, just a few minutes later, he was hedging his bets, especially after it was pointed out that those arrested in connection with alleged crimes cannot always be publicly identified.

''We haven't said publicly, and nor do we intend to say, that when you are arrested, you are banned as we are looking at the policy and we will spell that out,'' he maintained.