Warner asked England 2018 to fund education centre in Trinidad officials claim

By Andrew Warshaw

April 11 – Jack Warner, FIFA’s longest serving vice-president, was embroiled in yet more corruption allegations today when it was claimed he asked officials of England’s World Cup 2018 bid team to consider funding an education centre in his native Trinidad and Tobago.

The Times newspaper reported it had been informed by two independent officials, former 2018 bid and FA chairman David Triesman and current Premier League boss Sir Dave Richards, that Warner brought up the subject during a meeting in London 18 months ago.

Bidding nations are strictly forbidden from offering inducements to delegates while, conversely, voting FIFA members are under firm instructions not to ask for cash or kind in return for their votes.

Two senior FIFA officials were banned as a result of the cash-for-votes scandal that preceded the 2018 and 2022 World Cup ballot in Zurich.

Warner is one of many FIFA Executive Committee members widely believed to have joined a collective backlash against the English media by casting their vote for Russia, the ultimate 2018 winners by a landslide.

Warner has long been the subject of persistent accusations about his alleged role in a highly publicised World Cup ticket scandal and The Times’ revelations once again throw him into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

“He didn’t say: ‘Do this and I’ll vote for you’,” Richards, who was vice-chairman of England’s 2018 bid, told the newspaper.

“But it was always at the back of my mind.

“I did nod my head at Triesman as if to say: ‘Let’s not get into this’.

“What he said was England should be building this kind of education block as a legacy throughout the world.

“He did say Trinidad and Tobago wanted one.

“He said it was an education set-up that he wanted for the children of Trinidad and Tobago.”

Triesman, forced to resign right in the middle of England’s campaign due to a newspaper sting that recorded him making bribery claims against fellow 2018 bidders Spain and Russia, told The Times Warner’s alleged request was “was absolutely out of the question”.

Contacted by the paper, Warner, who is currently in Guatamala, dismissed the report as a total fabrication.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he was quoted as saying.

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