England bid still supported despite fears of FIFA backlash (Feature)

By Ben James Nov 19, 2010, 12:22 GMT

London - It's probably fair to say that FIFA officials and the team behind England's bid to stage the 2018 World Cup will be holding their breath when they pick up the Sunday papers this weekend.

A scandal that this week resulted in the suspension of two FIFA executive committee members has sent shockwaves through the sport's governing body and also caused significant concern among England's 2018 bid team, which believes its chances of staging the tournament could be seriously damaged by a potential FIFA backlash.

And the prospect of a BBC Panorama programme investigation into FIFA, to be broadcast on November 29 - just four days before the December 2 vote - was deemed 'unpatriotic' by the head of England's bid, Andy Anson.

Such is the furore over the Sunday Times allegations that the British prime minister, David Cameron, has invited Jack Warner, the CONCACAF president, to lunch next week in a bid, no doubt, to secure his three votes for an England bid.

Yet despite the uproar, England are still considered as one of the two leading contenders to stage the event, not least because the infrastructure is already in place, unlike Russia, the other leading contender.

Russia are the narrow favourites with the UK bookmakers but England are close behind in second, while the joint bids from Spain and Portugal and Holland and Belgium thought to be the least likely outcome of the December 2 vote.

England were boosted by FIFA's evaluation report, which said Russia is a higher risk than the other three bids - because of its airports and international connections.

And for his part, Warner said he thought it was a two-way contest. 'If he (Cameron) can overcome the Russian bid, which I think is gaining momentum, he doesn't have a problem,' Warner said.

'I don't think he has to worry about the other countries too much.'

With England needing seven of the 22 votes to get through the first round of voting, Warner's three votes could prove crucial to England's chances of staging the event for the first time since 1966, when they won the trophy for the only time in their history.

Following allegations in the Sunday Times last month, six officials were banned for a number of offences, with Nigeria representative Amos Adamu suspended for three years for bribery and Reynald Temarii from Tahiti suspended for a year for breaching rules on loyalty and confidentiality.

The Sunday Times' allegations that Spain and Portugal had been colluding with 2022 hopefuls Qatar in an exchange of votes were dismissed by FIFA.

The BBC has defended the content and timing of the forthcoming Panorama programme as 'being in the public interest'. But bid chief Anson believes it could damage their hopes further.

'I am incredibly disappointed with the timing of what the BBC seem to be proposing with Panorama,' he said.

'If they truly believe there is a journalistic reason to run this programme, then they could have done it any time in the last two years.

'To do it the week before the vote is about one thing and that's sensationalism. I don't think that's helpful and I don't think it's patriotic.'

FIFA, meanwhile, suggested that those who revealed the news of the scandal were almost as much to blame as those implicated.

'When you have rumours you can sell many more newspapers,' Claudio Sulser, the chairman of FIFA's ethics committee, said.

'But human nature prefers to talk about evil things. But the fair-play prize, what do you think? How many journalists would get the fair-play prize?'

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