BBC News | Football | Kelly: No regrets over loan

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Sunday, December 20, 1998 Published at 12:32 GMT

Kelly: No regrets over loan

Kelly: No regrets over loan
The former chief executive of England's Football Association has defended his role in the cash-for-votes scandal which cost him his job.

But Graham Kelly insisted he had no regrets about the controversial loan to the Welsh governing body, and denied it was a bribe.

"I went in there with very good intentions to strengthen England's position in world football," Mr Kelly told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme.

He said he had no option on Tuesday when resigning, having been given "very little room for manoeuvre".

The former chief executive admitted the loan had been a way of gaining the Welsh FA's support for England's bid to host the 2006 World Cup.

"It was part of us helping them and them helping us," he said.

But Mr Kelly denied wrongdoing: "It doesn't constitute a bribe to me. A bribe to me is somebody slipping something in your back pocket and then you going to spend it in the Bahamas."

He said the agreement was simply part of the need to increase English influence in the international game, something which had been made plain to everyone involved in the World Cup bid.

Figures like Sir Bobby Charlton and the sports minister Tony Banks had all been given one message when travelling round the world lobbying.

"The one thing which was coming through at the time was 'you must be represented around the Fifa table, you must get that seat'."

The idea of financial support for the Welsh FA was also sensible for England in that "young players would be developed and many of them would come through to English football".

No cover-up

Mr Kelly took full responsibility for the loan and defended Mr Wiseman's role in the affair.

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The chairman, facing a vote of no confidence from the FA executive committee, had been unfairly vilified, according to the former chief executive.

But when asked to look back, he accepted things could have been differently.

"A lot of things can change with hindsight," he admitted.

For example other people at the FA only became aware of the loan when details were passed to the organisation's financial department.

"It would have been better to come upfront with it much more quickly then we did.

"But that wasn't a deliberate action, it was something that didn't get done at the time."

Mr Kelly also said he could not predict the controversy: "It's only since the arrangement has been so appallingly portrayed that I realised that my own position was in jeopardy."

Dirty tricks rumour

There have been reports that the former chief executive is to receive a Ł400,000 pay-off from the FA, but Mr Kelly denied this.

"That's not the figure, but the figure is immaterial," he said, adding that he was more concerned about details being leaked to the press.

Although Mr Kelly did not believe there had been a campaign to oust him, he had heard suggestions about a campaign to install a replacement chairman.

But he added: "Whether there's any truth to that rumour, I don't know."

Mr Wiseman's future will be decided by a full FA Council meeting on 4 January, but he is likely to be voted out after refusing to resign.

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