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Backing ... Prince William and Chuck Blazer
Ex FIFA insider calls for reform
FORMER official says FIFA is ‘galacticos of corruption’ – and the body must go
- Harry Redknapp vents 2018 anger
- Pepsi in £2.4bn Russia drink deal
- Partners in slime shake on it
- Chief exec: BBC ruined our bid
- 2018 Cup stitch-up: The verdicts
- A Fifa fiasco
By SHAUN CUSTIS, NICK PARKER, Chief Foreign Correspondent, and RHODRI PHILLIPS
Published: 04 Dec 2010
SEVEN FIFA fatcats who are accused of destroying England's World Cup bid are named and shamed by The Sun today.
The executive committee members are said to have indicated to our bid team - which included Prince William, PM David Cameron and David Beckham - they could be relied on to pick England to host the 2018 championship just hours before the crucial vote.
Vice president Jack Warner, America's Chuck Blazer, Guatemala's Rafael Salguero, Korea's Chung Mong-Joon, Cyprus's Marios Lefkaritis, Turkey's Senes Erzik and Ivory Coast's Jacques Anouma are the key figures at the centre of the storm.
Each of the seven is said to have indicated their vote was in the bag. It is claimed Warner even put his arm around Wills and told him: "You can rely on me." But in the early hours of Thursday a team of FIFA delegates met with Russia's campaign team at a Zurich hotel.
And in a secret ballot at FIFA's Zurich HQ hours later, England got just two of the 22 votes - neither of which came from the seven. After a second round of voting, FIFA chief Sepp Blatter announced the 2018 World Cup would go to Russia.
A bid insider yesterday said of the seven: "They are a disgrace the lot of them."
Last night, the head of English football announced he is QUITTING because he refuses to deal with the stitch-up merchants of FIFA.
Roger Burden, the acting FA chairman, said he would not stand for the permanent job in protest.
He raged in a letter to FA board members he was "not prepared to deal with people whom I cannot trust". He added: "It's difficult to believe the voting was an objective process."
Meanwhile Andy Anson, chief executive of England's 2018 bid, said: "I'm not going to beat around the bush - individual members promised to vote for us and didn't. Myself, David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince William were looking people in the eye, asking for their vote and being told, 'Yeah'."
He added: "Russia did a lot of last-minute lobbying and votes appeared to switch at the last minute. I still find it hard to believe."
Face of bid ... David BeckhamEngland's two votes came from our own Geoff Thompson and either Japan's Junji Ogura or Cameroon's Issa Hayatou. Turk Erzik's failure to back England is particularly surprising as he is a close friend of Thompson. After the vote Erzik claimed: "It was nothing personal, just business."
Anson was yesterday still struggling to come to terms with Russia's shock victory, which came amid widespread reports of corruption.
He said FIFA insiders were claiming a BBC Panorama probe into alleged bribery among its officials had sunk the UK bid.
Panorama linked three FIFA executive committee members to a £66million backhanders scandal and accused Warner of selling black market World Cup tickets. Anson said: "They are saying to us that our media killed us. I don't believe that for one minute.
"I hope it is a convenient excuse and they just had other reasons for going to Russia. Because for me it's a c*** excuse."
Blatter is believed to have personally assured Mr Cameron that the programme would have no role in the committee's decision. Anson said England should not consider bidding for a World Cup again until the voting system changes.
He added: "I'd say right now don't bother until you know that the process is going to change to allow bids like ours to win.
Hard-hitting ... David Cameron"When you have the best technical bid, fantastic inspection visits, the best economic report, and from what people told us the best presentation, it's quite hard to stomach that seemed to count for absolutely nothing." Anson said the fact the world leaders such as President Obama had blasted the FIFA voting shambles proved something was badly wrong.
He added: "When you get leaders of some of the top countries in the world questioning the process then I think they have to take a look at themselves. We'll see if they are big enough to do that. It is hard not to feel that to some extent this was all decided ages ago.
"To see that wasn't on people's agenda is tough, really tough.
"It does question whether we should have gone through the whole process."
Bemused Thompson also insisted promises of support had been broken. He said: "I cannot believe what has happened and I am naturally very, very disappointed.
Sepp Blatter ... decision"The votes that were promised clearly didn't materialise." Some of British football's biggest names were shocked by FIFA's snub. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: "It is a big disappointment. I thought the criteria for great stadia, good infrastructure, enthusiastic supporters was really strong for the World Cup."
Liverpool's Roy Hodgson said: "It seemed to be everything was crying out for England to be given the World Cup. I was pretty confident we'd get it."
But former England manager Graham Taylor said: "What did we expect? FIFA, as far as I'm concerned, is full of people who say yes to your face and no behind your back."
The FIFA delegates left Zurich's luxury hotels yesterday - some after lunching on oysters and champagne.
When delegate Ogura was asked by reporters if he believed his FIFA colleagues had been underhand he said: "Yes, I think so."
Vice president ... Jack WarnerA Russia expert yesterday questioned whether England had been the victim of a dirty tricks campaign orchestrated by PM Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB chief.
Author Dr Yuri Felshtinsky said: "Russia in general, and Vladimir Putin, has a long history of using improper influence to gain prestigious events.
"Under the Soviet Union it was chess tournaments. Now it is the Olympics and soccer." The BBC has been swamped with complaints from angry England fans who are convinced the Panorama probe sunk our World Cup chances.
The BBC news website had more than 5,000 complaints in the first hour after the vote - and insiders said they were later coming in at 100 a minute.
The video that helped seal Russia's World Cup win was directed by Brit Rupert Wainwright, who made 1999 horror movie Stigmata.
His campaign film tells of a Russian schoolboy's dream of the 2018 World Cup in his homeland.
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