SENIOR EXECUTIVES from England’s World Cup bid have met the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, over a Panorama investigation into Fifa corruption that some fear could be the “final nail” in their chances of hosting the 2018 tournament.
But it is understood the 2018 chief executive, Andy Anson, was given short shrift by Thompson, who viewed it as an attempt to influence the BBC’s current affairs flagship, whose editorial independence is sacrosanct.
As the fall-out continues from a recent Sunday Times investigation into Fifa corruption that led to the suspension of two executive committee members and four officials, senior bid insiders have increasingly felt the newspaper revelations have had a harmful effect on their chances. One senior bid source said yesterday: “It is a fact that England’s chances have been damaged among Fifa executive committee members. If the Panorama is broadcast that will damage our chances further.”
Russia are increasingly seen as strong favourites for the 2018 tournament but Spain and Portugal’s joint bid is also believed to be in a good position thanks to the networking skills of the Spanish federation chief, Angel Maria Villar Llona.
Initially there were hopes the magnitude of the revelations – and Fifa’s swift action to provisionally suspend Amos Adamu of Nigeria and the Oceania representative Reynald Temarii – would not harm England’s chances because the newspaper investigation would rightly be seen as justified. But as the Guardian reported last week, sources on the Fifa executive committee were increasingly concerned at what they saw the “hostile” and “sometimes aggressive” nature of the British media and a siege mentality has taken hold.
The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, who last week seized the opportunity to try to reassert his control, had earlier promised to drive the “devils” from football but last week turned his fire on the tactics of the Sunday Times. “One can ask whether it is appropriate for newspapers and journalists to set traps for people,” he said.
The presence in Zurich of Andrew Jennings, the author behind the Fifa exposé Foul who is contributing to Panorama, further unnerved the 22 members of the executive committee who will vote on the 2018 and 2022 tournaments on December 2nd. England’s 2018 team are refusing to throw in the towel.
They are hopeful that by creating some distance between the bid and the British media, as well as pointing out that newspapers have been fair in their coverage of the International Olympic Committee since London secured the Games in 2005, they can repair the damage. The verdict of the Fifa ethics committee, considering the cases of the two executive committee members and four officials who have been provisionally suspended as well as allegations of vote trading between Spain-Portugal and Qatar, on November 17th will be key.
Bid insiders hope the technical reports to be published midway through this month, expected to score England highly but not likely to be a key factor in the final analysis, will give them fresh momentum that can be capitalised on by during a presentation by the prime minister David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince William. They are considering writing to every newspaper and media organisation, urging them to back the bid as it enters the final straight. But attempts to influence the Panorama investigation into the race to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments are believed to be doomed to failure, with BBC insiders angry. Bid insiders insist they simply put the facts as they saw them to the BBC, at no stage asking for the programme to be changed or watered down.
Meanwhile, West Ham and Tottenham will today go head to head in the latest stage of their bid to take over the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games, against a backdrop of friction between the north London club’s partner AEG and the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC).
Both bidders will present to the OPLC, which plans to announce a shortlist next week, reach a decision on its preferred bidder by January and announce a final decision by March next year. There was mounting speculation last night that a third, unnamed bidder was also due to present to the OPLC.
The Guardian has learned that AEG, the global sports and entertainment giant that successfully rebranded the Millennium Dome as the O2, issued a coded warning to the OPLC in the wake of its press conference to announce its vision for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. AEG is believed to have been alarmed by press reports that interpreted comments by the London mayor Boris Johnson and the OPLC chair Baroness Ford as indicating that the track would have to be retained in the €615 million Olympic Stadium. Spurs and AEG believe the only way to make the stadium commercially viable is to scrap the track.
The company wrote to the OPLC, making clear its displeasure and indicating it had been given encouragement to bid under the terms of a tender document that did not require the track to be retained. It was this intervention that is believed to have been a key factor in the decision to postpone any bid for the World Athletics Championships until 2017, so as not to prejudice the process and open up the OPLC to a legal challenge.
The joint bid for the stadium from West Ham and Newham council, backed by Live Nation and proposing to retain the track, would appear to be in pole position, but will have to convince the OPLC the economics of its bid stack up.
GuardianService
