LONDON, May 15, 2011 (AFP) - English Football Association (FA) chairman David Bernstein has played down talk of leading a campaign to reform FIFA after the global governing body found itself mired in corruption claims.
Lord David Triesman, the former FA and England 2018 World Cup bid chairman, told a British parliamentary committee this week there had been "improper and unethical behaviour" by several senior FIFA officials, including Issa Hayatou from Cameroon and Jacques Anouma from the Ivory Coast.
British lawmaker Damian Collins said evidence had been received that FIFA vice-president Hayatou and Anouma had received bribes of $1.5 million to vote for Qatar's successful bid to stage the 2022 World Cup.
Both Hayatou and Anouma have denied the allegations.
Currently there are eight members of the FIFA executive committee who have either been found guilty of, or alleged to have been involved in, impropriety relating to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid votes.
Triesman's revelations have stoked the anger already felt by many in the English game towards FIFA after the FA's bid to stage the 2018 World Cup, which will be held in Russia, won just two votes -- one of which was their own.
However, some observers feel Triesman's comments have deflected attention from fundamentals flaws both within the bid and the FA itself.
"There are over 200 nations in FIFA and we're one of them. People talk to the FA as though we can change FIFA ourselves," Bernstein told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme on Sunday.
"We are around half a percent of the voting population within FIFA, so we will use what influence we have but we have to talk and we have to work with FIFA as well.
"It's a very difficult balance to try and push for reform, to push for change, and at yet the same time be inside the tent and not outside."
"There clearly are issues with FIFA. We would like to see greater openness, both financially and decision-making -- maybe decisions should be made by the nations as a whole and not by 22 or 24 people -- but these are matters for the future."
Meanwhile Bernstein hit back at criticism from the likes of Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish the FA had done as much as anyone to devalue the FA Cup by staging Saturday's final at Wembley on the same day as a round of Premier League fixtures.
Manchester City, where Bernstein was once the chairman, beat Stoke 1-0 in the Cup final hours after Manchester United won the Premier League title.
Traditionally, no other major English fixtures are played on Cup final day but officials insist tthis year's clash was caused by a demand from UEFA that no matches be played at Wembley in the fortnight before the London venue stages the Champions League final between United and Barcelona on May 28.
"I thought yesterday (Saturday) was a fantastic final, and I think the FA Cup final dominated the day," Bernstein said.
"The television contracts are terribly important for the Premier League, I've got sympathy for them with regard to that. I think yesterday the Premier League's programme was diminished somewhat, not the other way round."
