Lineker quits newspaper column over Triesman story

Former England striker Gary Lineker on Tuesday quit the newspaper which published the secretly recorded allegations from the Football Association’s chief about England’s rival World Cup bidders.

He said he would no longer write his column in The Mail on Sunday in protest at the weekly newspaper’s publication of the story involving David Triesman, saying it had damaged England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

BBC sports presenter Lineker, who was the top scorer at the 1986 World Cup, is an official ambassador for the bid.

“The story itself, the circumstances surrounding it and the actions of The Mail on Sunday in publishing it have undermined the bid to bring the World Cup to England in 2018,” Lineker said.

“I wholeheartedly support the bid, because I believe that hosting the tournament would be brilliant for the country, and I am an official ambassador for it. I have therefore taken the view that I cannot continue as a columnist for The Mail on Sunday.”

Triesman quit as FA chairman and head of the bid team following the newspaper’s claims he had told a former aide that Spain could drop its attempt to host the 2018 event if rival bidder Russia helped bribe referees at this year’s World Cup.

He protested that he believed the conversation was private and he was only commenting “on speculation circulating about conspiracies around the world” and his comments “were never intended to be taken seriously”.

Football’s world governing body FIFA said Monday it would investigate the claims.

Spain and Russia have dismissed the allegations as completely unfounded.

England staged the World Cup for the only time in 1966, which was also the sole occasion when they have won the trophy.