Lord Coe has warned that the battle for votes in England’s fight to host the 2018 World Cup is in severe danger of being lost.

A source close to the campaign told The Times that Coe has held emergency talks with Lord Triesman, the bid chairman, as concerns grow among several board members that their hopes are faltering under the latter’s leadership.

England remains the bookmakers’ favourite to stage the tournament, but faces stiff opposition from Russia and a joint Spain-Portugal bid.

Coe, the double Olympic gold medal-winner, was appointed by the bid team as a non-executive director to lend the political influence that he demonstrated in helping to ensure that London won the race to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

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He is understood to have told Triesman that, no matter what the strengths of the bid in terms of world-class stadiums and a commitment to a strong legacy, it will be lost unless he is capable of demonstrating stronger leadership. Coe was unavailable for comment last night.

Triesman’s position is not thought to be under threat before the next meeting of a divided board, on November 24, but his authority has been challenged, not for the first time, over worries that England is struggling to win the levels of support it requires among the 24 members of Fifa’s executive committee.

Even before a fraught past fortnight, during which the bid has been severely criticised by Jack Warner, one of the executive committee members, Triesman had come under pressure over his inability to devote more than two days a week to the £100,000-a-year role.

Sources at Fifa have told The Times that, with Warner’s influence likely to result in “at least another two votes and probably more like another three or four votes” being lost, England is in danger of losing ground in the race.

Support is growing for Spain and Portugal — particularly if Spain chooses to go solo as the vote in December 2010 draws nearer — and for Russia, whose aggressive bid has been launched with the full support of Dmitry Medvedev, the President, and Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister.

England’s bid is also suffering from a lack of financial muscle, with the Government’s pledge of £5 million in direct funding having been cut to a conditional loan of £2.5 million.

Given that Triesman’s appointment to the Football Association and to the bid team was expected to offer more influence at government level, this has been identified as a personal failure by his critics on the board.

England 2018 did not comment last night, but Triesman told The Times last week he was more than satisfied by the progress he and Andy Anson, the chief executive, had made in lobbying executive committee members He cited the encouraging progress made in the past fortnight in making presentations to Michel Platini, the president of Uefa, and Dr Nicolás Léoz, the president of Conmebol, South America’s governing body, and feels that England is ahead of its principal rivals in the lobbying stakes.

Attempts will be made this week to win the support of Mohamed bin Hammam, another executive committee member, before England’s match against Brazil in Doha on Saturday. The bid team will have a high-profile presence before the 2010 World Cup draw in Cape Town on December 4.