By Andrew Warshaw
May 5 – Mike Lee, the arch-strategist behind a series of successful World Cup and Olympic bids, is to give evidence at the latest session of the ongoing Parliamentary inquiry into football governance.
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee will hold a one-off session on England’s doomed 2018 World Cup bid next Tuesday (May 10), with Lee scheduled to be questioned for an hour, partly over why England performed so poorly.
He will be followed by Lord Triesman, one-time bid committee and FA chairman who was forced to resign midway through the 2018 campaign as a result of a damning newspaper sting.
Although Lee was not part of the team that led England’s failed £15 million ($25 million) bid, he played a significant role in Qatar’s landslide 2022 victory, arguably the biggest upset in World Cup bidding history.
Both the 2018 and 2022 events were balloted at the same time and Lee will no doubt be asked to provide valuable insight into the pitfalls and caveats of going for major tournaments.
Triesman’s evidence will be particularly intriguing in terms of what really went on during the 2018 World Cup process, particularly in terms of his dealings with FIFA executive committee members who promised England so much but left them with a mere two votes.
Shortly after England lost out to Russia, Triesman went on television promising to reveal all.
This is his chance to spill the beans.
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