He reported the England bid team

[rousutt]

 The Russians' eve-of-vote press conference had seemed limp, apathetic even. ‘They’ve thrown in the towel,' remarked one observer. Either that or they didn’t need to make much of an effort. England's FIFA 15 bid leader Simon Johnson dismisses FIFA... FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced Russia as the FIFA hosts as England's bid CEO Anson looks dejectedBy the end of the final presentations, there seemed little to suggest England were not in a strong position to follow the capture of the Olympics by securing the right to host the greatest show of 4fifacoins all. The presentation and the video, complete with that Elbow soundtrack, was terrific, so superior to anything else on offer. FIFA even rated England the best technical bid.And then came the vote, and the crushing sense that England had been humiliated. English faces turned grey in that auditorium. FA officials felt nauseous.How could they have been so naive to think they had a chance? Naive to think this was a FIFA 15 that could be won using the tactics they had employed. They had won two votes, one of which belonged to their own Geoff Thompson. The Prime Minister couldn’t get back to the business of running the country fast enough.There might have been a whiff of corruption even before the votes were cast but on Thursday Hans-Joachim Eckert’s report claimed England may not have played strictly by the rules either. FIFA Vice-President Warner (left) had promised to vote for England - but reneged on his voteThe FA fiercely refuted this in a strongly worded statement, but Eckert was scathing about their attempts to secure the support of the disgraced Warner.Eckert accuses England of ‘damning the integrity of the bidding process and the image of FIFA' in chasing Warner’s vote. He reported the England bid team ‘often accommodated Mr Warner’s wishes in apparent violation of bidding rules and the FIFA code of ethics’. Among the alleged transgressions was the help they provided to a ‘person of interest to him (Warner)' in finding ‘a part-time job in the UK’.England were also said to have provided ‘substantial assistance' in setting up an Under 20 training camp for the Trinidad and Tobago FIFA Federation in the UK in response to Warner’s ‘improper demands’.The truth is, the England bid team were reluctant amateurs in a highly professional FIFA 15, and if they were taken to the cleaners in Zurich they were tucked up again by FIFA yesterday. Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and Alexei Sorokin of the Russia FIFA bid celebrate winningPursuing Warner in quite the manner they did was a mistake.