Still Rivalries Run Deep

Triesman (at left): tried desperately to Win Sepp Blatter's Money

We’re well aware of the Lord Triesman incident, and our relative lack of posting on it is more a reflection of the fact that we’re pretty sure that everyone involved with World Cup bidding at every level is involved in some combination of shenanigans and stupidity. Triesman had the misfortune of saying something to a woman who just happened to be concealing a tape recorder.

If you’re unaware, Ben Stein’s doppelganger was chairman not only of the FA but also of England’s 2018 World Cup bid. At dinner with a former aid he is alleged to have accused Spain and Russia of conspiring to help each other out. According to Triesman, Russia would help bribe match officials at this summer’s World Cup and, in exchange, Spain would withdraw its World Cup bid, throwing its support behind Russia in the process.

The Mail on Sunday reported Triesman as saying: “There’s some evidence that the Spanish football authorities are trying to identify the referees…and pay them. My assumption is that the Latin Americans, although they’ve not said so, will vote for Spain. And if Spain drop out, because Spain are looking for help from the Russians to help bribe the referees in the World Cup, their votes may then switch to Russia.”

The Mail are probably in good shape with their reporting because the alleged statements were caught on tape… by Triesman’s dinner companion that night, a 36-year-old Melissa Jacobs. Jacobs then sold the story to the Mail for 75,000 GBP.

While Jacobs had been employed as a private secretary for Triesman, most of the stories in the British press dance around the notion that they may or may not have been romantically linked. Triesman does refer to her as someone he thought to be a “friend”

All of this is a really long set up for the following, which appears in a piece in the Guardian on whether this whole affair has somehow impacted Howard Webb’s chances of officiating a future Champions League final of all things (and please God, let’s hope it has lest Webb’s suckage ruin the most important club match on the calendar):

“Those scratching their heads as to what motivated Melissa Jacobs to become the butterfly whose beating wings created a tornado at Wembley might like to ponder one rumour that emerged yesterday. Like her publicist Max Clifford, Jacobs – whose revelations of a taped conversation with Lord Triesman led to his demise – is an Arsenal fan and Triesman backs Tottenham Hotspur. It was never going to last.”

Awesome. I wonder if qualification for the Champions League feels as good as maybe costing your country a World Cup bid does bad.