EastStandBlue
Life President
- Joined
- May 29, 2005
- Messages
- 15,519
Well, you could see that coming, couldn’t you? Just as soon as the English World Cup bid gets off the ground, the English tabloids have set about dismantling it from afar.
The news that Lord Triesman, chairman of the 2018 bid, has claimed that Spain and Russia are colluding to bribe officials at the upcoming tournament in South Africa may come as a bolt from the blue, but the source of the scandal is entirely predictable.
There’s nothing more that the English press love to do, aside from blaming immigration levels and stringing up politicians, than to derail any bid for English sporting success. Whether it’s a sex scandal, betting ring or a good old piece of unfounded gossip from the top brass, you can bet that sport editors across the country will devour it quicker than a Kevin Keegan meltdown. Defended by the stance that this is in the public interest, exposes along this line have become regular as clockwork.
Without Triesman relinquishing his role as chairman, this threatens to derail a bid that is two years in the making and is oh-so-necessary for an FA that is struggling to keep it’s heads clear of the financial mire, drowning under a sea of debt courtesy of an inflated redevelopment project of Wembley stadium.
All the more frustrating is just how unnecessary this all was. In what is blatantly an inexplicable honey trap deployed by the Mail on Sunday staff to ply information from the commander in chief, all they have is the ramblings of a madman with no substantial evidence. If they wanted a sensational story, they could’ve saved themselves the trouble and interviewed a cider-fuelled tramp in Leicester Square about the impending apocalypse and his communications with the dead... A story equally as founded as the one they’ve gone to print with this morning with none of the repercussions.
Encouraging signs, however, have come from the almost unanimous condemnation from fellow journalists. Speaking on Sky’s frequently engaging Sunday Supplement, the Times’ Patrick Barclay slammed the Mail on Sunday’s efforts as nothing more than divisive.
Triesman has already announced his departure as chairman of the 2018 bid, but will seemingly cling on to his senior role within the FA and FIFA will undoubtedly cast a dim view on this debacle. So, in 2018 when the England squad are embarking on a Russia-bound voyage, I just hope the Mail on Sunday realise what they’ve done.
The news that Lord Triesman, chairman of the 2018 bid, has claimed that Spain and Russia are colluding to bribe officials at the upcoming tournament in South Africa may come as a bolt from the blue, but the source of the scandal is entirely predictable.
There’s nothing more that the English press love to do, aside from blaming immigration levels and stringing up politicians, than to derail any bid for English sporting success. Whether it’s a sex scandal, betting ring or a good old piece of unfounded gossip from the top brass, you can bet that sport editors across the country will devour it quicker than a Kevin Keegan meltdown. Defended by the stance that this is in the public interest, exposes along this line have become regular as clockwork.
Without Triesman relinquishing his role as chairman, this threatens to derail a bid that is two years in the making and is oh-so-necessary for an FA that is struggling to keep it’s heads clear of the financial mire, drowning under a sea of debt courtesy of an inflated redevelopment project of Wembley stadium.
All the more frustrating is just how unnecessary this all was. In what is blatantly an inexplicable honey trap deployed by the Mail on Sunday staff to ply information from the commander in chief, all they have is the ramblings of a madman with no substantial evidence. If they wanted a sensational story, they could’ve saved themselves the trouble and interviewed a cider-fuelled tramp in Leicester Square about the impending apocalypse and his communications with the dead... A story equally as founded as the one they’ve gone to print with this morning with none of the repercussions.
Encouraging signs, however, have come from the almost unanimous condemnation from fellow journalists. Speaking on Sky’s frequently engaging Sunday Supplement, the Times’ Patrick Barclay slammed the Mail on Sunday’s efforts as nothing more than divisive.
Triesman has already announced his departure as chairman of the 2018 bid, but will seemingly cling on to his senior role within the FA and FIFA will undoubtedly cast a dim view on this debacle. So, in 2018 when the England squad are embarking on a Russia-bound voyage, I just hope the Mail on Sunday realise what they’ve done.
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