Triesman resigns from England 2018 and FA after he accuses rivals of bribery

By Andrew Warshaw

May 16 – Lord Triesman, the chairman of the Football Association and England’s 2018 World Cup bid, today dramatically resigned from both positions over alleging that 2018 rivals Spain and Russia were planning to collude in bribing referees at this year’s tournament in South Africa.

Triesman alleged in a report in the Mail on Sunday that Spain could pull out of the running for 2018 and support Russia if the Russians, who have emerged as the favourites to be awarded the event, help in paying off referees.

The 66-year-old Labour Peer claimed in a conversation with a former civil servant aide that votes from FIFA members who initially voted for Spain would then switch to Russia for 2018.

Although the United States and Australia are still in the running for 2018, it has been established that the tournament will almost certainly go to one of the four European candidates, with the United States or one of the Asian contenders likely to battle it out for 2022.

“There’s some evidence that the Spanish football authorities are trying to identify the referees…and pay them,” Triesman was quoted as saying in the Mail on Sunday.

“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.”

Whether or not the allegations are true and the article was a deliberate set-up to smear Triesman, FIFA rules strictly prohibit World Cup candidates from talking about rival bids.

The England 2018 team immediately faxed apology letters to the Russian and Spanish Football Associations as part of major damage limitation exercise.

In the reported tape recorded conversation with former aide Melissa Jacobs, a civil servant he employed as a private secretary when he was a Minister at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and who he also reportedly had a brief relationship with, Triesman also talks openly about the recent John Terry scandal but it is his comments about rival 2018 bids which are the most damaging.

The FA had tried unsuccessfully to secure a High Court injunction in London to prevent the Mail on Sunday publishing the claims, allegedly made two weeks ago. They abandoned the case after only 90 minutes.

The embarrassing revelations emerged only two days after Triesman, accompanied by David Beckham, handed England’s 1,752-page bid book to FIFA President Sepp Blatter at a high-profile event in Zurich.

To make matters worse, the chairman of FIFA’s Referees’ Committee is Maria Villa Llona, the President of the Spanish Football Association, who is also the head of Spain’s bid with Portugal as well as an influential member of the FIFA Executive Committee.

On Triesman’s decision to step down, new Sports Minister Hugh Robertson told the BBC: “It is absolutely the right decision to take.

“Our top priority as a new Government is to win this bid for the country and I am delighted they have acted as quickly and decisively as they have done.

“All is not lost, we would rather we weren’t dealing with the situation but it is better that it has happened now, so soon after handing over the bid book, rather than two three months out.

“It is not good for the organisation and it would be ludicrous to pretend otherwise but the fundamentals that underpin the bid are as strong as ever.”

Triesman insisted his double exit, which came after a two-hour board meeting and again plunged English football into embarrassment, followed what he described as “entrapment” by the Mail on Sunday.

FA board members David Sheepshanks and Roger Burden have been drafted in as acting joint chairmen of the FA though it is unclear who will take over as head of the bid team.

“I have decided to resign as chairman of the FA and the 2018 Bid board,” Triesman said in a statement on Sunday afternoon.

“A private conversation with someone whom I thought to be a friend was taped without my knowledge and passed to a national newspaper.

“That same friend has also chosen to greatly exaggerate the extent of our friendship.

“In that conversation I commentated on speculation circulating about conspiracies around the world.

“Those comments were never intended to be taken seriously, as indeed is the case with many private conversations.

“The views expressed were not the views of the 2018 bid board or the FA.

“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.

“Entrapment, especially by a friend, is an unpleasant experience both for my family and me but it leaves me with no alternative but to resign.

“I have immediately informed the FA board of my decision.”

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