FIFA NEWS

21 June ~ The associate of ex-FIFA vice president Jack Warner spoke the truth yesterday when he said Warner had stepped down from his position “for the good of the game”. Now, says a relieved FIFA, Jack must be presumed innocent. Warner is blithely dismissing “gifts” as merely part of the way that FIFA and its delegates typically conduct business, and anyone who thinks otherwise is naive.

Lest anyone believe that the allegations of financial foul play that have surrounded so many of Warner’s football dealings really are an attempt to have him “hung out to dry continually”, in Warner’s words, it’s worth looking back to the 2006 World Cup to document two of Warner’s least glorious moments in football administration.

Warner was “special advisor” to the Trinidad & Tobago Football Association. This very special role allowed him to get his hands on Trinidad & Tobago’s entire allocation of World Cup tickets, all of which he sold on to Simpaul, the Warner family travel firm. FIFA found him guilty of breaching the its ethics code on three counts, but the punishment was a limp slap on the wrist (“You breached the FIFA ethics code.
Warner had also made a deal with the Trinidad & Tobago players that they would receive a 50 per cent share of the profits that the country’s FA made from Germany 2006.

GENEVA — Once sought for his support by Nelson Mandela and Britain’s Prince William, FIFA Vice President Jack Warner’s time at the heart of international soccer is over.

The island’s police had expressed interest in receiving any evidence FIFA unearthed.

Warner still is required as a witness while FIFA’s hired team of former FBI agents gathers evidence against failed presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam. That Warner effectively dodged his day in court will not surprise veteran FIFA-watchers.

Blatter already was secretary general in 1983 when Warner joined FIFA’s executive committee — the exclusive 24-man club which chooses World Cup hosts and whose votes are coveted by heads of state and royalty alike. Warner’s power-broking role increased on becoming CONCACAF president in 1990.