According to a report from Mirror Football, Triesman gave an interview to the general press corps earlier this week, detailing the bribery demands of four high-ranking officials on FIFA's executive committee, the group that ultimately votes on which country lands the highly coveted World Cup hosting rights. 

Triesman named Trinidad's Jack Warner, Paraguay's Nicolas Leoz, Brazil's Ricardo Teixiera and Thailand's Worawi Makudi as the four officials who tried to demand bribes in return for their votes for England's World Cup Bid. 

Per Triesman's statement:

"The first proposition was put to me and Sir Dave Richards in October on 2009 when we were invited to the Wyndham Hotel to meet Jack Warner after he spoke at the Leaders in Football Conference.

"He told us he was very concerned and believed that after all his years in Trinidad and Tobago football there was nothing he could regard as his legacy but that he had in mind some sort of school or educational establishment with some affinity with football and a proper set of offices as his legacy.

"Dave nodded to me and understood what that meant. I said it was out of the question and in what I'd call a stage whisper Sir Dave said: 'You must be joking; you're talking about £2.5million.'

"Warner nodded and told us: 'The funds will be channeled through me and I would guarantee they are appropriately spent.'

"Then he was in touch again after the Haiti earthquake and told us what would lift spirits of Haiti would be if the people could see the World Cup but that it needed somebody to buy the TV rights for large screens to show the games and that £500,000 would help him secure those rights."

But the bribe demands didn't stop there.

According to Triesman, Leoz requested knighthood in return for his vote, while Thailand's Makudi required that all television rights go directly to him, rather than to the Thai networks directly.

Teixiera of Brazil was the lone executive whose claims were not detailed, although it was reported that he told Triesman that any inducements would have to come to him and that Brazil's president's promise of support was hollow. 

While this is hardly the first time that an executive committee member has been charged with bribery, blackmail or other unsavory practices (two EXCO members were stripped of voting privileges prior to the votes on the 2018 and 2022 Cup bids), this is one of the most wide reaching and detailed claims to come before the sport's governing body. 

For those who don't remember, the English bid was the first one out, despite the nation delivering a stellar presentation to the organization and possessing the necessary stadia and infrastructure to support the tournament already in place. 

Now perhaps, we're seeing a big part of why England was the surprising first one out of the running. It's not every day that a nation previously seen as the front-runner is the first country out of the race for the bid and England seemed stunned by the lack of support, even with the rumblings that their media's reports of corruption had soured many board members to the English cause. 

Perhaps, those accusations weren't so far off base. 

Triesman's charges don't seem too outlandish, and the detail he goes into implies that he's telling the truth. If that's not enough, he's not some muckraking tabloid journalist out to make FIFA look bad; he's a former FA chairman who would have plenty to lose in terms of reputation if the charges were proven to be true. 

It has long been suspected that there were shady dealings in the executive committee, but Triesman's statements show that perhaps the rumblings were in fact correct. 

If the statements are in fact true, the impact would be incredibly wide-reaching, affecting everything the executive committee does.

If they tried to bribe England in return for votes, wouldn't they do the same to the other candidates? Does that mean that Qatar and Russia actually paid up on the bribe demands, and guaranteed themselves a World Cup bid in the process?

If you're FIFA, you must look into these charges immediately.

Triesman doesn't just name names, he details what each specific executive wanted in return for his vote, and the longer you take before initiating a formal investigation, the worse it looks for you. The last thing you want is to be seen as soft on corruption; after all, it would taint any action your organization took in the future, undermining your ability to govern the sport effectively. 

In the end, Triesman dropped a major bomb on the footballing community, one that cannot go unaddressed by FIFA.

Here's hoping Sepp Blatter announces a formal investigation into Triesman's claims as soon as possible.{jcomments on}