World Cup 2018 bid: Lord Triesman quits in disgrace
LORD Triesman fell on his sword yesterday and quit as chairman of the FA in a damage-limitation exercise aimed at rescuing England’s floundering 2018 World Cup bid.
Lord Triesman yesterday quit as chairman of the FA
Another embarrassing day for English football ended with Triesman first resigning as leader of the 2018 bid team, and then from the FA itself, having realised that his position was untenable after suggesting Spain and Russia were plotting to bribe referees at the World Cup in South Africa.
David Sheepshanks and Roger Burden have been appointed as joint acting chairmen of the FA.
Geoff Thompson, a member of the 2018 board, is set to be handed the onerous task of leading the bid and overriding the hammer blows Labour peer Triesman has inflicted.
In a taped conversation with a former aide, which was given to a Sunday newspaper, Triesman suggested
Spain would drop out of the running to host 2018 in return for help
with bribing officials at this summer’s World Cup, to leave Russia as
England’s biggest rivals to stage the showpiece.
“There’s
some evidence that the Spanish football authorities are trying to
identify the referees ...and pay them,” Triesman is alleged to have
said.
“My assumption is that the Latin
Americans, although they’ve not said so, will vote for Spain. And if
Spain drop out, because Spain are looking for help from the Russians to
help bribe the referees in the World Cup, their votes may then switch
to Russia.”
The remarks were also in breach of FIFA rules which forbid comments on rival bids.
All
of this has left Triesman, who became the FA’s first independent
chairman in 2008, with no choice but to stand down at a hastily
convened FA board meeting. “In that conversation I commentated on
speculation circulating about conspiracies around the world,” he said.
“Those comments were never intended to be taken seriously as indeed is the case with many private conversations.
“Nobody
should be under any misapprehension that the FA or 2018 bid board are
disrespectful of other nations or FIFA and I regret any such inference
that may have been drawn from what has been reported.”
The
revelations came just two days after former England captain David
Beckham helped the FA submit a 1,752-page bid book as they try to
persuade FIFA to award the country the 2018 World Cup. The bid team
immediately faxed letters of apology to the Russian and Spanish FAs
yesterday morning.
Keith Mills, a former 2018
bid board member and now on an advisory team, said: “It is obviously
unfortunate but it is still recoverable. How we deal with it is
critical.
“We need to be very responsive to the
audience we are talking to and make it clear this was not reflective of
the FA or English football.”
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