FIFA Updates

Sir David Richards’s resignation from the World Cup bid board is perceived as damaging by senior figures at Premier League clubs. Photograph: Francois Lenoir/Reuters

The Premier League chairman, Sir David Richards, did not seek the authority of the clubs he represents before resigning from the World Cup 2018 bid board last month, nor has he since provided them with an explanation. Eleven Premier League clubs, including all the biggest, have worked for months to be part of their cities’ bids to be host venues for the 2018 tournament, in a competitive process whose 12 winning cities will be announced today. Senior figures within some clubs are sorely dissatisfied that their chairman’s resignation has damaged England’s chances of being awarded the tournament.

Richards declined to take up his place on the slimmed-down 2018 board on 24 November, sparking a storm of unfavourable coverage just before the bid team travelled to the World Cup draw in South Africa, where they presented England’s case to Fifa. A senior figure at one Premier League club, who did not want to be named for fear of further complicating the politicking which has dogged the bid, said he had been dismayed at Richards’s resignation. “We clubs have worked non-stop to support the World Cup bid,” he said, “yet the one major point being made against England by our competitors is that we are divided by this internal football politics. We have still been given no explanation as to why the Premier League chairman resigned, but if this comes down to personalities getting in the way of something potentially so huge for English football and the Premier League itself, that would be appalling.”

The Premier League confirmed this week that Richards did not consult collectively with the clubs or ask for their authority before declining to take his place on the board, and he has not since issued them with an official explanation. It was suggested that he was not actually on the board as the Premier League chairman, but perhaps in one of the other football administrative roles he holds, and therefore he was not required to communicate with the clubs. However, it is well known that Andy Anson, the 2018 bid’s chief executive, worked assiduously to bring Richards on to the board because of his Premier League position.

The Premier League’s approval was universally recognised to be vital to England’s chances of succeeding with Fifa, and while both Richards and Richard Scudamore, the Premier League’s chief executive, have emphasised that they support the campaign, there is general recognition that Richards’s resignation continues to damage the bid.

Senior government sources said this week that while England clearly has formidable strengths and attractions as a World Cup host, other countries competing for the tournament are using Richards’s absence to argue that the Premier League is not in fact fully supportive.