Fair minded people might just pause and ask themselves which side the Mail on Sunday is on. Silly me, of course it is on the Mail on Sunday’s side.
So let’s at least give three cheers for Gary Lineker who did the right thing, rarer these days, by resigning from the newspaper as a columnist after they had exposed Lord Triesman’s comments which had been recorded during a private meeting with a former colleague. Lord Triesman was the Chairman of the Football Association and Chairman of our World Cup bid for 2018 and our Gary was one of its Ambassadors.
Is nothing safe ever again? First the PM blows a gasket, or a bigot, during the General Election because he’d left his microphone on after his interview with Sky News. Question: which minion was looking after the PM during his interview and why didn’t he/she take the microphone off? Question: why didn’t the floor manager for Sky News run, as they usually do, after the PM for the microphone? I think we should be told.
Now, poor Lord Triesman has had to fall on his sword. Q. Why did a former colleague record the interview and then sell it on? Q. What kind of bad blood had passed between them for her to do that? I think we should be told.
Now, it may be that the resignation of Lord Triesman in the long term will do the FA no harm and after the usual politicking from other FIFA Board members it may not do the bid much harm either. It is infinitely better than our last one ten years ago and it is time football came home.