Qatar 2022 and an Anglo-Saxon conspiracy

That the FIFA decision to award the World Cup to Qatar in 2022 is once again in the spotlight is no surprise but the manner in which it hogged the headlines last week has raised intriguing questions. These are how did the story emerge and is this an Anglo-Saxon conspiracy?

This is not to in any way suggest that the Daily Telegraph did not have a good story about the financial dealings between Jack Warner and Mohammed Bin Hammam just days after both, then members of the FIFA executive, voted on the Qatar bid. Claire Newell along with Jonathan Calvert, when the pair worked for the Sunday Times, exposed the corruption inside FIFA prior to the voting for the 2018 and 2002 bids. This led to two FIFA executive members being suspended with the result that only 22 sat round the table when the votes on the two bids took place in December 2010.