In the dim surroundings of a newspaper office on the paradise island of Trinidad, wearing a disheveled shirt and surrounded by broken chairs, Jack Warner is a pale imitation of the man who once led the high life as one of the real brokers of the power of world football.
For three decades, Warner was a massive presence in the global game, a first-class flier in five-star hotels who rubbed shoulders with presidents, prime ministers and princes.
But that was before the spectacular fall from grace, before allegations of widespread corruption began to trickle in, before the FBI fraud allegations and before he was banned from all football.
Jack Warner has broken his silence on England’s failed 2018 World Cup bid with Russia win
And before last night’s extraordinary apology for robbing England of the chance to host the 2018 World Cup and allowing Prince William to believe he had backed the bid.
“I failed, I was wrong, and I apologize profusely for that,” Warner said. “But I thought it was Russia’s time to host a World Cup and I have no regrets.”
Warner, 79, who was banned from football for life by FIFA in 2015, is widely regarded as the kingpin whose alleged corruption allowed Qatar to ‘buy’ its way into hosting this year’s tournament.
The former FIFA vice president is fighting extradition to the US on multiple corruption charges
The former FIFA vice-president is fighting extradition to the United States on multiple corruption charges, including allegations that he took a $5m (£4.3m) ‘kickback’ to support Russia’s winning bid.
Last night, he broke years of silence to admit he understands the hatred towards him in England – but ironically also says he will support the team in Qatar.
In a remarkable interview from the offices of the local newspaper he runs in his native Trinidad – a country he hasn’t left since the US brought 29 charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering against him in 2015 – he said: ‘ Where I failed. I should have told England very early what my intention was. I didn’t and so they were led to believe that I was supporting them.
Warner’s half-hearted apology was described as ‘too little, too late’ by an insider with knowledge of his dealings during England’s World Cup bid. “He agreed to support England, told everyone he was supporting England and then, at the last minute, took a bribe from Russia,” the source said. “The boy has never spoken so gratefully of you [the MoS] to make him talk.’
In December 2010, FIFA held elections to decide who should host both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, with the FA putting together a star-studded bidding team for the first tournament.
They lost to Russia, while Qatar stunned the football world by winning the right to host this year’s tournament.
Warner boasted of meeting the late Queen, Prince William and David Beckham, who flew to Trinidad and organized training classes in the hope of winning Warner’s support for the UK bid.
The former head of the Confederation of North American, Central American and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) said: “I met the queen, I met her husband. The Queen gave me her plane to go to Ireland. England was very good to me.”
Referring to his meeting with Prince William, he said: “I never said [to him] that I would vote for them. I said, sure, I would seriously consider it.
“Even when the English team came here [to Trinidad] and Beckham came and did training courses and so on, they asked me to make a statement that CONCACAF’s Jack Warner now supported England’s bid.
‘I didn’t. I have never made a public endorsement of anything.’
Warner met the late Queen, Prince William and David Beckham when they flew to Trinidad
Speaking to AZPNews.com’s Prior Beharry, Warner – who is said to have earned as much as $100 million in bribes during his more than two-decade career at football’s pinnacle – admitted he gave the England squad the impression that would support them.
‘I was wrong there. I gave them that impression and I shouldn’t have. And that’s where I went wrong and I’m probably paying a price for that today.’
Today he is a pale imitation of the man, the vice-like control at play made him feared and despised. Wearing a crumpled shirt, he speaks in the rundown offices of Sunshine Today, a local newspaper he founded shortly after US authorities laid charges in 2015.
Broken chairs fill the room. A plastic table with dried flowers sits in the corner. His life today couldn’t be further from his glory days, traveling the world in first class, staying in five-star hotels and romancing world leaders whose names he calls out at will. .
“There is no one in the Western world who has traveled more than me, who has met national leaders from Mandela to Putin to Joe Biden to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. I’m sitting with all of them’.
His appeal against extradition to the US was rejected by the Court of Appeal in Trinidad and is now being heard by the Privy Council in the UK, the highest court of appeal for a Commonwealth country. Warner, who faces the rest of his life in prison if convicted in the US, says he believes he will get a fair hearing in the Privy Council.
They have no ax to grind. I feel safe and sound that I will be judged fairly before them and, at the end of the day, I’m just waiting to see what the final outcome will be.’
Warner rarely watches football anymore, saying: ‘I don’t watch football. I watch cricket. I’m a cricket fanatic now.’
Ironically, he will support England when they face the USA in the group stage in Qatar.
“It doesn’t matter to me who wins, but if you ask me twice, I’ll tell you [I support] England because America has hurt me and my family and that’s why I feel sorry for America so I hope they are eliminated first. But beyond that, I don’t care.
He admits British fans hate him: ‘Yes, they hate me. But hate doesn’t last forever. At some point in time they have to come back to reality. When you hate someone so much, it tends to consume you and that’s what gets you in the end.’
Speaking about a £10m Netflix documentary series ‘FIFA Uncovered’ which airs next month and is expected to ‘expose’ Warner and his leading role in the massive bribery scandal surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments, he said : ‘It doesn’t happen in my interest. I will be involved in it, they say.
“I stopped watching football. I say to Netflix: “Get a life!”. If they believe it will help them make money, go for it.
“I am isolated from criticism and [from] football. If not, I would be dead by now. I won’t watch it and I don’t want to hear about it either. I deliberately live in a kind of cocoon. I’ve emigrated within the country, for lack of a better term, so these things don’t bother me anymore.’
Warner spends his days getting up early. He walks every day from 3.30am to 4.30am, with armed bodyguards, before working at his cluttered desk inside his newspaper offices in a poor part of a city where he claims he was once a hero. local.
“There are guys who consider me to be a demigod, a demigod, because I fix their roads, their bridges,” he said. “I went to their functions. I gave scholarships to the children of sugarcane farmers. You name it I did it. Wherever a problem arose, I was present.’
After work he drinks with his friends at a local bar playing his favorite card game. There is no sign of the massive wealth he is said to have amassed. He claims to have lost $2 million during the pandemic from lost rental income on properties he owns on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.
But he refuses to back down from allegations that he stashed millions in offshore accounts.
A person who knows him well says: ‘He lived large. Now, he still has a beautiful house, the same house he has always lived in, but he is a sad figure. If he has money stashed away, which we all think he does, then he’s not using it. Maybe he’s spending it all on lawyers to avoid spending the rest of his days in jail?
“He has become a pathetic figure. He used to be so powerful. He is still arrogant. He ran for local parliamentary elections recently and lost. Here in the islands he is still respected by some people.
He was kind to poor people. He tried to portray himself as a Robin Hood type character. In his defense, he did good for many poor people.
Warner has been accused of accepting bribes from Vladimir Putin to host the 2018 World Cup
“But he has always been corrupt, he spent 30 years being corrupt. There are many people hoping that he will finally be brought to justice, but he has eluded them so far, so that hope has been tempered by reality.’
Warner remains unrepentant about casting his vote in Russia after President Vladimir Putin personally lobbied him – and allegedly paid millions through offshore companies to ‘buy’ his vote.
In the US lawsuit, he is accused of accepting $5 million in bribes from Putin and his friends. Warner continues to deny that he was bought and vehemently denies all allegations against him.
“At the end, when I sat down, I realized that England had hosted the World Cup before,” he said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the country has only hosted one, in 1966.
“Russia had never hosted a World Cup and I felt it was Russia’s turn. When I sit back now and reflect, I have no reason to be sad because I truly believe I did the right thing.’
The Privy Council has not set a date for when it will decide whether Warner should be extradited to the US. Sources in America say that because of his age, Warner will be placed on a ‘fast track’ to trial.
A legal source with knowledge of the matter said: “It’s a shame that this crook, one of the most corrupt people ever in football, is still walking around.” Warner is free on $2.5 million bail.
“If he loses his extradition appeal, expect things to move quickly. The feds have been looking for this guy for a long time. He is in their eyes. They believe they have a strong case against him and are determined that justice will be served.’
The FBI declined to comment last night, saying they never comment on active cases. Two of Warner’s sons pleaded guilty to corruption charges.
Warner claims he has been ‘harassed’ by the international media since the FIFA corruption scandal broke. The BBC and others have been met with silence, something he understands will make this – his first interview since the allegations – explosive.
He said: “The media hates me. I can never have a fair judgment. That’s why I never spoke.’
