Roger Burden released an open letter on Friday night. We reproduce the full text.

"I had applied for the position of chairman. I recognise that an important part of the role is liaison with Fifa, our global governing body. I am not prepared to deal with people whom I cannot trust and I have withdrawn my candidacy.

"I am well aware that some of the UK media coverage could have upset some of the Fifaexecutive committee. We have a free press in our country and we all have to live with adverse comment from time to time.

"But there is no doubt that English football benefits from the media coverage that it receives and would have been given great coverage if we had brought the World Cup to England. "I have no issue with Russia's winning bid. I am sure they will put on a great World Cup and I have congratulated them.

"We were equal top of Fifa's own technical assessment of the four bids. We were top of an independent assessment of the best commercial bids and our presentation on Thursday was widely acclaimed as the best of the 2018 and 2022 bids.

"Against this background, I am struggling to understand how we only achieved two votes. It is difficult to believe that the voting was an objective process.

"On top of that, Prince William, the Prime Minister and other members of our delegation were promised votes that did not materialise."