England's Bid for the 2018 World Cup may be in jeopardy!

England’s bid to stage the football World Cup in 2018 is in jeopardy after the chairman of the FA, Lord Triesman, quit after he accused two rival bidders of corruption.

The FA board moved swiftly to limit the damage after the Labour peer and former minister apparently suggested that Spain and Russia were planning to bribe referees at this year’s tournament.

His extraordinary allegations came in a taped conversation with Melissa Jacobs, a former ministerial aide almost 30 years his junior, who claims to have had an intimate friendship with him.

In a conversation reported in the Mail on Sunday, the peer is said to have suggested that Spain could drop out of the running to host the tournament in return for Russian support in a plot to identify and bribe referees at this summer’s competition.

His claims were greeted with incredulity by the Spanish football authorities while their Russian counterparts suggested it was an attempt to derail the country’s bid because it was seen as a threat.