Jack Warner claims 2018 World Cup demands revealed in Fifa Garcia report were 'nothing out of the ordinary'
Warner denies any wrongdoing and in an e-mail sent to The Times, claims there was nothing unusual about his requests
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Your support makes all the difference.Jack Warner, the former Fifa vice-president, has insisted that he did “nothing out of the ordinary” during the controversial bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
The Garcia report, which examined claims of bribery and corruption in the race to host the two tournaments, was published by Fifa on Tuesday.
The report found that the England 2018 World Cup bid team “accommodated or at least attempted to satisfy the improper request” of Fifa executive committee members, including Warner.
In one instance, England 2018 helped a young man who Warner considered to be his “adopted son” find work with Tottenham Hotspur, Wembley Stadium and Aston Villa.
The 2018 tournament was ultimately awarded to Russia and the 2022 edition to Qatar at a Zurich ceremony in December 2010.
Warner denies any wrongdoing and in an e-mail sent to The Times, claims there was nothing unusual about his requests.
Warner said: “For me the report is not even worth the paper it has been written on and of course not the whopping fee paid for it either.
”As it relates to me personally, I continue to sleep very soundly at nights for nothing in the report implicates me personally in any sleaze.
For me the report is not even worth the paper it has been written on and of course not the whopping fee paid for it either.
“Nothing in the report that I asked for was out of the ordinary in the Fifa for the last 100 years as far as bidding countries are concerned, and these new-found purists in world football today will do the same thing and more next time around.”
Warner had been a long-standing member of the Fifa executive committee, but became embroiled in corruption allegations before being provisionally suspended by the Fifa ethics committee.
He was then subsequently arrested and charged in the United States of America as part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's probe into money-laundering. In 2015, Warner was banned from taking part in any football-related activity for life.
Other favours granted to Warner by the England 2018 bid team were the waiving of a £168,000 debt owed to the Football Association by the Jamaican Football Federation and the sponsorship of a £36,000 Caribbean Football Union gala dinner.
Undisclosed “favours and benefits” were also granted by the FA to a team Warner owned - Joe Public Football Club.
Warner added: “Everything I asked the FA for was for other persons or entities and never for my family or me. It is also informative to note that the FA was equally disposed to give.”
Additional reporting by PA
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