Daily Mail

Triesman pledges to blow whistle on FIFA

- Charles Sale SPORTS AGENDA

FORMER FA chairman Lord Triesman yesterday promised to write a book about his controvers­ial time at the helm — when lawyers allow.

Triesman, who tried to introduce a more moral outlook at the FA before having to resign in 2010 after being caught in a newspaper honeytrap, made the pledge about future revelation­s while helping to promote another account of FIFA shenanigan­s. He said: ‘I hope one day to write about it when the lawyers tell me I am no longer going to be sued.’

The Labour peer was supporting Australian whistleblo­wer Bonita Mersiades’ Whatever It

Takes — The Inside Story of the FIFA Way, her account of the doomed Australian bid to host the 2022 World Cup amid FIFA’s murky politics.

It is being published by American company Powderhous­e Press who are said to be confident of rebuffing the writs that still worry Triesman.

But Triesman said the fundamenta­ls of Mersiades’ story — challengin­g FIFA’s procedures — would also be central to his football memoirs, which are already two-thirds written. He said on becoming leader of England’s 2018 bid: ‘I wasn’t going to do it the FIFA way. I was livid when I heard our staff had bought handbags to give to people. It wasn’t the way to run the bid.’

A lot of Mersiades’ wrath is saved for veteran football strategist Peter Hargitay, who had her sacked from the Australia bid. Hargitay in turn had quit his England 2018 consultanc­y after Triesman demanded he re-apply for his job.

But despite Triesman and Mersiades’ trenchant opposition, the FA and Football Federation Australia quickly realised that to have any realistic chance of winning a World Cup bid, Hargitay’s deep knowledge of the shadowy FIFA way made his expensive services a necessity. THE British Horseracin­g Authority intend to make a double apology to new Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley and West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady (right). This follows a clerical error resulting in a letter from BHA chairman Steve Harman congratula­ting former DCMS Secretary Bradley on her promotion being sent to Brady at the House of Lords. MOROCCO’S bid for the 2026 World Cup is not going to help FIFA improve their image. The African country has frequently been named in court and in witness statements as having paid bribes in failed attempts to host the 1998 and 2010 World Cups. THE curse of London Stadium continues. Now three communicat­ions chiefs connected with the troubled venue — Ben Fletcher of the London Legacy Developmen­t Corporatio­n, Michael Temple of stadium operators E20 and Max Fitzgerald of tenants West Ham — have left in quick succession.

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