England's Trinidad friendly in doubt

Fabio Capello's end-of-season England friendly against Trinidad and Tobago has been plunged into doubt over a bizarre dispute between the Caribbean nation's most powerful football figure, Jack Warner, and his government. The two sides are in a bitter disagreement over the cost of renting the government-owned stadium for the match on 1 June.

The Football Association were last night urgently seeking clarification over the game after Warner was quoted in the Caribbean as saying that he would rather call the match off and repay ticket-holders than bow to the demands of the government. The dispute is likely to re-open the debate over why the FA have done a deal with Warner in the first place, whose involvement in a ticketing scandal at the 2006 World Cup finals and his open hostility to a World Cup being staged in England have made him a controversial figure.

The match is of little use to television audiences in the United Kingdom because it kicks off at 10.30pm English time on 1 June, a Sunday. Instead the game is viewed as a way the FA can secure the support of Warner, a Fifa vice-president and a key figure in deciding whether the FA's bid for the 2018 World Cup will be successful. The FA are also eager to smooth over relations with Warner following remarks he made last August that "nobody in Europe likes England" and that he would oppose any English World Cup bid.

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Yesterday, Warner, who is the president of Concacaf – the football region covering north and central America and the Caribbean – and effectively head of the Trinidad and Tobago football federation (TTFF) went on the attack against his country's sports minister, Gary Hunt. Warner accused Hunt of reneging on an official deal to lease the Hasely Crawford stadium to his federation and raising his demands to 10 per cent of gate receipts – a figure he estimates at US$780,000 (£397,000). Characteristically dramatic, Warner was quoted in Trinidad newspapers as saying: "Never has an evil been perpetrated on a country in the field of sport and more so football, than this present minister of sport. And for me, enough is enough."

The game had been arranged to mark the TTFF's centenary celebrations and had been billed as "A Score to Settle" – in reference to Trinidad's defeat to England in the 2006 World Cup finals group stages. Now Warner has told the government that he will serve what is described as an injunction under the islands' law tomorrow morning. "If I win, the match is on. If I don't, it's off," Warner said. "We would have to give people their money back."

All of which is likely to bemuse Capello, whose 30-man squad meet today for an 11-day end-of-season camp which the England manager views as crucial in preparing for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers that start in September. England will play the US at Wembley on Wednesday and are scheduled to fly to Port of Spain the following day. Privately, the England manager is not thought to regard a game against Trinidad as the ideal preparation for his players.

There are also disagreements between TTFF and their government over advertising rights at the stadium and a ban on adverts for alcohol and cigarettes. A statement from the federation said that the government had been "disingenuous" in their dealings. The cancellation of the game, the statement said, "will cause irreparable damage to the reputation of the TTFF and subject each and every citizen of T&T to shame and humiliation and will result in a breach of contract with the English FA and may result in a cancellation of the match."

Warner has found himself involved in controversy before. In 1989, TTFF printed 45,000 tickets for a World Cup qualifier against the US played in a stadium which held 28,500. In 2006 he was accused of profiting from illegal sales of World Cup tickets issued to TTFF which were sold by his own travel company. Fifa did not find him guilty of wrongdoing but his son Daryan was fined £500,000 for selling tickets that had come from his father for a mark-up on their face value.

Warner was also involved in a bitter court case with senior members of the Trinidad 2006 World Cup squad over their bonuses. Led by former West Ham goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, England-based players such as Sunderland's Kenwyne Jones and Southampton's Stern John pursued Warner and TTFF for bonuses they said they had been promised of around £125,000. An arbitration panel in London found in the players' favour last month.