By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 9 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter today attempted to distance himself from reports that England’s 2018 World Cup bid team hired a private security firm to monitor the behaviour of their rivals during the campaign.
The Bloomberg news agency reported that bid officials asked investigators to find out what other bidding nations were up to in terms of gaining the support of FIFA Executive Committee members – and to make sure they were playing by the rules as far as England’s own effort was concerned.
“I don’t know about it but for me the bidding process is finished and we must look forward,” said Blatter.
Asked whether England had acted in the interests of moral integrity by getting information this way, Blatter seemed genuinely taken aback.
“Spies? Like James Bond?” he answered before giving a longer yet somewhat cryptic response.
“In this game there are a lot of people who like to destroy something but it is a question of fair play.
“That is one of the things that was invented by British football.
“When we talk about fair play my first thought is always towards the four British Associations.”
Former English Football Association and bid chairman Lord Triesman is due to appear tomorrow before a Parliamentary Committee to discuss the entire 2018 bidding process, specifically why England only ended up receiving two votes when they had spent £15 million ($24 million) on their campaign.
Russia ended up winning by a landslide as England was eliminated in the first round.
Triesman resigned from his 2018 post last May – seven months before the vote – after being secretly taped by an English newspaper having a private conversation during which unsubstantiated bribery claims involving the Spain/Portugal and Russian 2018 bids were allegedly made.
Blatter was speaking after FIFA announced a £17.5 million ($28.7 million) plan to crack down on match fixing and illegal betting along with Interpol.
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