Geoff Thompson says England's hopes of hosting the 2018 World Cup finals remain intact.
New bid chief confident of hosting tournament
Geoff Thompson says England's hopes of hosting the 2018 World Cup finals remain intact despite the Lord Triesman scandal.
Triesman was forced to step down from his role as bid chairman after making bribery allegations against Russia and Spain in a recording of a private conversation, plunging the nation's hopes of hosting the tournament into doubt.
Thompson, his replacement, has since spent the week trying to build bridges with officials from both countries and Fifa in an attempt to limit the damage.
The vice-president of both the Fifa and Uefa Executive Committees said the face-saving mission had been successful, insisting the countries incriminated by Triesman were not resentful towards the English campaign.
Maintaining integrity
And the former Football Assocation chairman believes the bid team dealt with the problem efficiently, helping to restore the damage done by the peer.
Thompson told the
News of the World: "We made it a priority to do the correct thing and immediately sent letters of apology to the Russian and Spanish Federations and also to Fifa.
"I believe we have succeeded in making this clear and thus maintaining the integrity of the FA and the bid. It was encouraging to hear from them that they held no grudge against our bid.
"It was an unreserved apology and the bid made it clear we wished to disassociate ourselves from the comments. The situation in which the comments came out were sad on a personal level.
"It's already become clear that from my conversations with colleagues in the international football community and from comments by several Fifa ExCo members that our bid is still very intact."
England delivered their bid book to Fifa president Sepp Blatter in Zurich on 14th May, with Thompson among the five-strong contingent that included David Beckham.
Credentials
And the 64-year-old says the substance of the document has not changed, stating his belief that England had the best offering to Fifa out of the competing countries.
He added: "It's important to remember that, fundamentally, our bid hasn't changed. We believe we have a very strong case to bring the tournament to England and the events of the last week haven't changed our credentials in the slightest.
"Our message is based on five main elements: passion, diversity, technical, commercial and legacy. The passion of our fans is unquestionable.
"We have 12 excellent host cities and we have a collection of world-famous stadiums and a series of new builds that will ensure the best facilities for players, fans, administrators and partners.
"Our legacy offering will give England the ability to support the development of the domestic and global game."
