We don’t want to make any detailed comment about the allegations relating to the conduct of Lord Triesman which led to his resignation from his role in England’s 2018 World Cup bid and his post at the FA. These have been extensively covered in the press and all one can say is that there appears to have been some kind of entrapment operation which led him to making remarks in private which he would not wish to be publicised. All of us sometimes say things in private to friends we would not wish repeated and it should be noted that Lord Triesman is denying some of
We don’t want to make any detailed comment about the allegations relating to the conduct of Lord Triesman which led to his resignation from his role in England’s 2018 World Cup bid and his post at the FA. These have been extensively covered in the press and all one can say is that there appears to have been some kind of entrapment operation which led him to making remarks in private which he would not wish to be publicised. All of us sometimes say things in private to friends we would not wish repeated and it should be noted that Lord Triesman is denying some of the specific allegations that have been made.
There are, however, wider governance issues here. The argument can be made that there has been a series of problems at the FA which suggests that it is a dysfunctional organisation not fit for purpose. In practice, balancing the demands of government, clubs, players, officials, the grassroots game and fans is far from easy and there is no magic formula that will get what is inevitably a contested balance right.
Part of the context is New Labour’s use of sport which we commented on yesterday. As far as football in particular is concerned, New Labour started by taking a potentially interventionist stance through the Football Task Force led by former Conservative minister David Mellor. However, that report was effectively allowed to gather dust as New Labour backed away from an interventionist stance.
However, they continued to put some pressure on the football authorities to put their house in order, particularly when Andy Burnham became the responsible minister. The FA needed someone who could mediate between them and the government and Lord Triesman fitted the bill. He had the right pedigree: student radical at university; lifelong Spurs fan (possibly with some involvement at youth football level); white-collar trade union official; Labour minister. Now that there has been a change of government, Lord Triesman’s back story is less relevant.
As far as the World Cup is concerned, this may seem to be a storm in a tea cup, but the problem is that there is quite a lot of resentment directed towards England because of the commercial success of the Premier League, note Michel Platini and Uefa. England could no doubt deliver great facilities and a big profit for Fifa, although Spain would be a serious competitor in that respect as the host nation of the other really big football league (Serie A having slipped back a little). Sometimes English football is portrayed as arrogant and complacent, so although a lot has been done to win friends, it may not be enough to overcome the suspicion or resentment of others.