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Western Bureau:
With no governmental responsibilities on account of his recent resignation as Trinidad & Tobago's minister of national security, former FIFA vice-president Austin 'Jack' Warner has seemingly turned his attention to taking on his detractors.
In an interesting opening salvo, the feisty Warner has taken on no less of a person than FIFA's high-profile boss Sepp Blatter, claiming that he (Warner) was given £4m to build the Centre of Excellence in Trinidad, in return for helping to get Blatter elected to the most powerful position in world football.
However, in seeking to make his case against Blatter, Warner made a stunning statement which has seemingly implicated Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president Captain Horace Burrell, based on a report carried by the Trinindad Express newspaper in a series of special investigative pieces entitled 'A very lucky Jack'.
According to Warner, in seeking to ensure that Blatter got all the required votes from CONCACAF, the following scenario unfolded. The report quotes Warner as stating, "An interesting development at that congress was that Haiti was absent and with Blatter's permission, I got Horace Burrell's girlfriend to vote as the Haitian delegate by saying 'Oui!' when Haiti's name was called."
If Warner is telling the truth, such a revelation could reflect badly on Burrell despite there being no mention of his direct involvement. It may seem mild, but added to some of the things Warner is being accused of, it would be an act of corruption and should not be slighted.
Personally, I believe that if Burrell values his integrity and Jamaica's good name, he has an obligation to respond to the allegations immediately. Failure to do so would be putting him under an ominous cloud, leaving him open to wild speculation.
While I am not sure to what extent Warner should be taken seriously based on his history of promising bombshell revelations and then not delivering, the fact that Burrell was suspended and former JFF general secretary Horace Reid sanctioned in the aftermath of the Cash-for-votes scandal, Jamaica unfortunately cannot claim to be squeaky clean.
It is no secret that Warner's fall from grace has badly blunted his ego and I suspect that while wounded he will most certainly want to play hardball with whoever gets in his way in regard to his mission to paint FIFA as an organisation that is not as pristine as the organisation's leaders would want the public to believe.
In fact, having been given the proverbial black sheep treatment, I rather feel that Warner has no choice but to come out swinging, in the hope that somehow he will be able to put up some form of defence for whatever is left of his sullied reputation.
Based on some of his recent statements, I get the feeling that nobody in CONCACAF with any skeletons in their closets will be safe as long as Warner remains upset with FIFA and those regional administrators he thinks abandoned him in his time of trouble.
Personally, I believe FIFA was wrong when it stopped the investigation of Warner when he resigned from the organisation. Now that Warner is talking, it is my hope that the full story will finally come out and let the chips fall where they rightfully belong.
http://jamaica-star.com/thestar/2013...s/sports8.html
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