Sebastian Coe insists Triesmangate won't kill bid

Triesman stepped down following allegations he accused the Spanish and Russian football federations of bribery.

The 66-year-old, who also vacates the same role with the FA, announced his decision following a hastily-arranged meeting with the FA board at Wembley yesterday afternoon and was replaced by Geoff Thompson, the British FIFA vice-president.

Coe, chairman of the London 2012 Olympics, is also on the 2018 bid board and he and fellow 2012 veteran Sir Keith Mills have spent the weekend formulating a rescue plan. Coe is understood to have briefed FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke and will speak to FIFA president Sepp Blatter about the situation.

Coe said: "This has been a traumatic 48 hours but this does not become a bad bid overnight."

Allegations made in the Mail on Sunday suggested Triesman told a former aide that Spain were planning to bribe referees at this summer's World Cup and offer their support to Russia's bid for the 2018 World Cup if they were to help.

The England 2018 World Cup bid team faxed letters of apology to both associations, while FA board members David Sheepshanks and Roger Burden have been drafted in as acting joint chairmen of the FA.

"I have decided to resign as chairman of The FA and the 2018 Bid board," Triesman said in a statement. "A private conversation with someone whom I thought to be a friend was taped without my knowledge and passed to a national newspaper. That same friend has also chosen to greatly exaggerate the extent of our friendship.

"In that conversation I commented on speculation circulating about conspiracies around the world. The views expressed were not the views of the 2018 bid board or the FA.

"Nobody should be under any misapprehension that the FA or 2018 bid board are disrespectful of other nations or FIFA and I regret any such inference that may have been drawn from what has been reported."