By Duncan Mackay in Zurich
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
December 3 – The Football Association’s acting chairman Roger Burden (pictured) tonight said he will quit because he no longer trusts members of FIFA after the failure of England’s World Cup bid.
Burden has withdrawn his candidacy to be the permanent independent chairman of the FA because he “is not prepared to deal with people whom I cannot trust”.
In a letter to FA board members, Burden said: “I had applied for the position of chairman.
“I recognise that an important part of the role is liaison with FIFA, our global governing body.
“I am not prepared to deal with people whom I cannot trust and I have withdrawn my candidacy.”
England 2018 officials have claimed that as many as six of the 22 FIFA members had promised to vote for England and in the end only one did so apart from Britain’s own member Geoff Thompson.
Burden said he knew there may have been a backlash after the Sunday Times and BBC Panorama investigations of FIFA but could not comprehend that England had only secured two votes.
Burden’s letter added: “I am well aware that some of the UK media coverage could have upset some of the FIFA Executive Committee.
“We have a free press in our country and we all have to live with adverse comment from time to time.
“But there is no doubt that English football benefits from the media coverage that it receives and would have been given great coverage if we had brought the World Cup to England.
“I have no issue with Russia’s winning bid.
“I am sure they will put on a great World Cup and I have congratulated them.
“We were equal top of FIFA’s own technical assessment of the four bids.
“We were top of an independent assessment of the best commercial bids and our presentation on Thursday was widely acclaimed as the best of the 2018 and 2022 bids.
“Against this background, I am struggling to understand how we only achieved two votes.
“It is difficult to believe that the voting was an objective process.
“On top of that, Prince William, the Prime Minister and other members of our delegation were promised votes that did not materialise.”
Burden said he will continue as acting chairman for the time being until a permanent chairman is appointed.
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