November 4 – Handbags given out as gifts to wives of the members of the FIFA Executive Committee by the bid at England 2018 have become “a symbol of derision, betrayal and embarrassment for me and my family”, according to Jack Warner (pictured), one of its most influential members.
Warner has revealed that he is sending back the bid’s £230 Mulberry gift which was intended to be a promotional gift.
The made-in-England handbag was presented to Mrs Warner last month by the former FA chairman, Geoff Thompson, at a dinner event in London.
The couple were attending the Leaders in Football conference where Warner, President of Concacaf, was a guest speaker.
The goodwill gesture caused a furore at a time when England’s 2018 team had hoped attention would focus on the unveiling of their star-studded team of ambassadors.
Instead they found themselves defending the decision to dispatch 24 handbags.
In a furious letter to the bid chairman, Lord Triesman, Warner, a FIFA vice-president, wrote: “Had [my wife] or I known then that the acceptance of what we all felt was a kind gesture would have resulted in the tainting of her character and mine together with the untold embarrassment to which we are still being subjected, none of us would have attended the dinner, nor would she have accepted what we thought was a gift in honour of her birthday.
“I have faced and continue to face all kinds of indignities from all manner of persons, but when these insults touch my wife, it represents an all time low.”
Warner was incensed at media coverage of England 2018’s purchase of the bags, the value of which was comfortably within FIFA guidelines over what is an acceptable gift from bidding nations.
Embarrassingly for England 2018 the e-mail was copied to the FIFA general secretary, Jérôme Valcke, and Concacaf’s other FIFA Executive Committee member, Chuck Blazer.
It is understood that this is not the first time Warner has written to Triesman on the matter.
A previous letter requesting a statement from the FA chairman to counter coverage of Warner’s acceptance of the gift is said to have gone unacknowledged.
Warner wrote: ”Equally disappointing is the deafening silence from you and the FA and which seems to support these allegations.
“No one has sought to correct this betrayal in a way that would unequivocally remove any doubt or question not only in the global village at large but among my few peers where honour is valued and character is cherished.
“This malaise of my wife and I has been allowed to fester for too long much to our embarrassment and the embarrassment of the institutions which I represent.
“In this regard, therefore, there is only one recourse: a return of this gift, which has become a symbol of derision, betrayal and embarrassment for me and my family.”
Warner says he “will continue to be a friend” of the FA but insists “there is nothing that your FA can offer me to get my vote”.
Warner wrote: “If England does get it, it is because Concacaf and I sincerely believe that England is deserving of the honour.”
There is no suggestion that England 2018’s gift was designed to be an inducement for Warner’s vote in the ballot next December, nor that it broke any rules.
A spokesman for England 2018 said: ”FIFA have a set of guidelines for all bidders which includes direction on what constitutes an acceptable campaign gift.
“All our gifts are carefully chosen so as to be within both the spirit and letter of that law.”
There is confidence at the Wembley bid headquarters that talks with Warner since the letter arrived have mollified the FIFA powerbroker and that an amiable meeting can be arranged with Triesman when the men are in South Africa for the Soccerex conference and World Cup draw in the coming weeks.