England 2018 World Cup bid ‘harmed’ by media

England's chances of hosting the 2018 World Cup have been jeopardised by newspaper coverage of the bidding process, according to a senior member of the team.

A week after The First Post asked whether the media had undermined England's efforts to win the tournament, and with less than a month to go before the decision is made, the BBC says there are fears that the team's chances have been "significantly harmed" by newspaper allegations against Fifa officials.

A Sunday Times investigation that led to accusations of vote rigging against two Fifa delegates has triggered a backlash against the English bid among members of football's governing body. And the bid team now fears that any more exposes or negative stories could prove fatal.

However, more allegations against Fifa officials could be made in a forthcoming Panorama programme, which could hammer the final nail into the coffin of the 2018 bid.

A member of the team told the BBC: "Fifa members feel they are being persecuted by the British media.

"It isn't dead and the next two or three weeks will be delicate but England's bid has been damaged and it's going to take a lot of hard work to repair that damage."

The Sunday Times article claimed that two members of Fifa's executive committee, Amos Adamu from Nigeria and Reynald Temarii from Tahiti, had asked for favours from undercover reporters posing as lobbyists in return for their votes.

They will appear before Fifa's ethics committee later this month, days before the decision on who should host the 2018 World Cup is made at a meeting in early December.

Earlier this year the head of the English bid, Lord Triesman, was forced to stand down after a sting by the Daily Mail, and members of the Russian FA, who are bidding against England for the 2018 tournament, have objected to the way they have been portrayed in the English press.

In a last ditch effort to try and win over delegates, the editors of national newspapers and broadcasters could be asked to write to Fifa in support of the English bid, a tactic that helped London secure the 2012 Olympics - although coverage of that project has hardly been glowing.

Last week Sepp Blatter said that the English media were constantly "trying to set traps" and that it was a "deeply rooted problem". ·