Richards Resigns From England 2018 Bid Board

Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards has surprisingly resigned from the board of directors for England’s 2018 World Cup bid despite a restructuring of the board personnel earlier this month after a spate of criticism as to the bid’s progress.

‘I feel I can now best support a successful bid without the necessity of sitting on the board,’ said Richards.

‘My positions as Premier League chairman, FA board member and chairman of the FA’s international committee provide me with ample opportunities to bang the drum for English football, and the bid particularly, right across the world, which I will continue to do wherever and whenever I can.

‘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. This must be our focus and priority going forward.’

Richards was only added to the bid board in March of this year on the insistence of bid chief executive Andy Anson so the campaign could harness the international clout of the Premier League.

Following Richards’ departure, Anson stated: ‘It was a surprise. We thought we had sorted everything out two weeks ago, but we’re not worrying about what has happened.

‘It is a decision that he’s made for personal reasons, the board accepted his decision and we’ve moved on and all we’re now focusing on is campaigning efficiently and building the best possible bid we can.

‘The Premier League have called me to reiterate their full support for the bid. We’ve got to stop focusing internally and as a country get behind this bid and support what we’re doing out there internationally because that’s what matters.

‘We’re chasing 24 votes. We’ve got a strong team chasing those votes, but we’ve got a real tendency to naval gaze in this country. We’ve got to forget that. We’ve got a strong proposition.’

The recent changes to the bid board saw six members step down, including ex-Birmingham City director Karren Brady.

Sir Keith Mills, Sir Martin Sorrell, Simon Johnson and Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe were the others to depart in attempt to make the board less political.

In addition, former FA chairman Geoff Thompson, the only English member of FIFA’s executive committee, was added to a new seven-man board, chaired by Triesman.

These changes followed criticism of the Triesman’s leadership and the handling of other issues, including the gift of luxury handbags to the wives and partners of the 24 FIFA voters.

Six other bidders are in the running – Russia, Spain/Portugal, USA, Japan, Holland/Belgium, Mexico and Indonesia.