Football Leagues/ Association and Governance
In a fresh setback for England's 2018 FIFA World Cup bid team, Sir Dave Richards has resigned from the board today (November 24th).
The English Premier League chairman, who was the bid's vice-chairman for international relations, announced his decision after seven months in the position.
In a letter to bid chief Lord Triesman, Richards said he believes that he "can best support a successful bid without the necessity of sitting on the board".
He also indicated that he was unhappy with this month's restructuring of the bid team, which came after key figures such as FIFA vice-president Jack Warner expressed concerns over the direction of the campaign.
According to the Guardian, Richards felt that his role could be undermined by the appointment of Simon Greenberg, the former director of communications at Chelsea, as chief of staff.
"My belief is that England has all the right attributes to host a successful FIFA World Cup - our challenge now is to convince the 24 members of FIFA's executive committee of that," Richards stated in his letter to Lord Triesman.
Eight other bidders are competing to host the 2018 tournament - Australia, Russia, Spain and Portugal, USA, Japan, Holland and Belgium, Indonesia and Mexico.
Written by Mark Thompson
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21 October 2010
21 October 2010
21 October 2010
20 October 2010
20 October 2010
