Johansson denies trying to influence voting for Euro 2008

UEFA president Lennart Johansson has furiously denied making claims which would influence the voting for the European Championships in 2008.

Johansson had reportedly intimated that the Austria-Switzerland bid had the strongest chance of succeeding while the Greece-Turkey and Russia bids had little chance of success.

The Scotland-Ireland bid is believed to be running alongside the Austria-Swiss team as favourites to stage the tournament in six years’ time.