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FA Chairman Welcomes Jack Warner's Criticism Of England's 2018 World Cup Bid
Lord Triesman is as diplomatic as he can be after cutting remarks by the CONCACAF president.
Oct 7, 2009 9:37:10 AM
English FA chairman Lord Triesman claims that the comments from CONCACAF president Jack Warner regarding England's 2018 World Cup bid are a positive thing.
Warner had earlier criticised the English bid, claiming that FIFA had so far not been "wowed" by what they had seen.
"I always take what Jack has to say seriously. He's a serious world figure and his advice I think has been very interesting," Triesman told Sky Sports News.
"Early on he quite rightly advised me, and I agreed with him, that we shouldn't do it like the 2006 bid, and rush around and be in everybody's face and be arrogant and pushy before we learned what people around the FIFA world exepected of a World Cup and expected of England.
"So we've been going round and we've been perhaps doing that relatively quietly. If you're listening to people then that's actually a rather quiet approach.
"I think we've learned a lot from that, and he's probably right that we've got to the point where we need to begin to use that information.
"He was great when he talked about the assets we have as well. We've got great stadia, great fans. We've got a huge history, an amazing history, and we've now understood fom people around the world by listening rather quietly to them, how we can use those assets to their greatest effect.
"So that's useful. We always hear good advice and take it in a good spirit."
As for whether he had been angered by Warner's comments, Lord Triesman insisted that he saw them only in a positive light and as useful guidance at this stage.
"I think we've gone around and we've done what we needed to do. We didn't go around arrogantly and people quite rightly advised that we shouldn't – and I agree with that," he added.
"We haven't gone around telling people we've got a God-given right to get this tournament. I've said everywhere we'll only do it by earning it.
"If you think about that, I think we ought to have some credit for going around and finding out what people want, becaue if you're going to earn something you need to understand what people want to view.
"Jack's an outspoken guy. I think he wouldn't be the kind of figure he is in world football if he didn't have that kind of zest and didn't use the opportunity to speak."
"I'm not furious. I think if in football you can't hear people giving advice – the original advice, which I believe was right, as I've said – and I think we were right to follow it as well. And hearing that we may now have got to the point, which we anticipated would be the middle of this autumn, when we could go out and be very much more forceful.
"If we didn't listen to that advice it'd be silly. Everyone's got opinions in football. There's always a discussion about them. It's good news, not bad news."
Zack Wilson, Goal.com UK
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