WORLD CUP 2018 and 2022

[littlehampton]

With bad weather continuing to play havoc with our fixtures, thought it might be interesting to hear what Town fans think about the disappointing outcome of our World Cup bid yesterday.

 

Many people believed, rightly or wrongly, that England had the best bid and should have won the vote for 2018, yet we only managed to muster one 'measly' vote, other than our own, to suffer a totally unexpected, highly embarassing first-round exit in Zurich.

 

Think this poses a number of questions. Were FIFA right to award Russia and Qatar consecutive tournaments in 2018 and 2022 ? Did the successful countries win on merit ? Were the FA right to spend circa £15 million on our own bid, when it was clear many people on the FIFA executive committee had their own agenda ?

 

Finally, were the damaging bribery and corruption allegations made in this weeks BBC Panorama programme close to the mark, and was the final outcome nothing short of a FIFA stitch-up ??

 

Thoughts and comments welcome.

[Eastside Urchin]

We dare stand up to FIFA against their "fair play" which actually stands for bribery & corruption and they react by stitching up what was the best bid ever by a country

If the words Sepp Blatter and plane crash are not on the front page headlines of the papers in the next week I will be an unhappy man

The sooner this crook is exposed the better and I will not apologise for the plane remark,the bloke is scum

[Steph]

I think that if we lost the bid because we have a free press then I am pleased we lost it.

 

It was Europe's turn for the world cup and Russia's viewpoint that Western Europe has had 10 world cups whilst Eastern Europe has had none is very difficult to argue against.

 

As for Quattar winning. I think it has something to do with oil money.

[Enfield United]

When I visualise Russia I visualise a Mafia style state which has created Billionaire Monsters almost overnight. A state of being not what you know but who you know. As for Qatar, well, I don't have to say anything other than Loads of Oil, a small population=Too much cash to know what to do with.

 

In my opinion Money talks and I would not be surprised if the FIFA members were spending the last 36hrs still counting the contents of their brown envelopes.

 

As for looking into the eyes of the Commonwealths future King and promising him their votes, it showed that FIFA has executives who do not know how to conduct themselves with leaders of state and therefore can never be trusted.

 

I feel the process is flawed, FIFA (Blatter) are scheisters and the world envy the quality of the Premier league, the passion of British supporters as well as our unrivalled terrace banter, which for the past 20+ years does not include any racism (unlike Spain/Russia)

 

I wish major countries such as England, Spain, USA, Holland etc etc just formed their own associationand broke away from Fifa. I was one years old the last time England hosted the World Cup and will be 65 if England were to host the 2030 Finals. Now thats a disgrace when Germany, Mexico have had it twice and we play second fiddle to Russia/Qatar who can't wait to import the Premiership actions we export week after week which entertains every footy fan over the world.

[Steph]

I have just read Paul Hayward in the Guardian and he sums up our problems in international politics to a "t" without realising it,

 

"Thompson..... (our representative on the Fifa executive committee) is the quiet gentleman who provides a veneer of English representation."

 

The FA is made up of Middle Class suits (Roger Reed excepted) who personify the English class system. We cannot hope to change Fifa without changing our FA. Who do we send to Fifa to garner votes, David Cameron (an old Etonian), Prince William, a member of the royal family and future king but who does appear to have a common touch and David Beckham who could be called, if he was black, an uncle Tom character. After all who has forgotten the lavish wedding to Posh. David may not be a member of the ruling class but he clearly would love to be so. Where was John Barnes or Ian Wright. Why did Fabio Capello take a back seat?

 

The FA has to change before Fifa can change and must grasp the fact that Football is a working class sport. Let the Arsenal and Man U's etc play with themselves wherever they like. They still need the FA for referees, coaching, international administration etc but have to pay much more for it and let that money be spread more evenly amongst the grass roots.

 

Dont get me wrong I am grateful for the FA's contribution to our new stadium but be honest the grant wouldn't pay Rooney's wages for a week!

 

Recognise Fifas dream to make football a world sport. There is the threat to break off the friendly with Trinidad and Tobago as retribution for Jack Warner's false promises. We must show we are bigger than that and go gladly to Trinidad and Tobago arrange friendlies with Nigeria, Peru and Cuba. Arrange a mini international tournament in this country for these countries and others like them in the summer. If clubs such as Arsenal and Man U wont release their players for such friendlies let us go to Hull, Plymouth etc to see if they will release their players.

 

In other words bring the sport back to the masses in this country rather than the "prawn sandwich brigade".

[andyetfc]

To be perfectly honest Steph, I do not think sending Ian Wright or John Barnes would have made any difference what so ever. Fabio Capello, a back seat? Not sure what impact he would have made. It appears that the decision was made prior to the meeting and we will need to get on with it and win on the pitch.

 

EU - Mexico with two world cups. Columbia pulled out in 1983 because of financial isues and Mexico jumped at the chance of assisting FIFA in 1986.

[Steph]

I agree that sending Ian Wright or John Barnes to Zurich wouldn't have changed many delegates minds. But football is the most multinational sport in this country and our delegation throughout has been white ruling class ambassaders as are the elite in the FA. We did not make the most of our multi-cuturalism in this country. Compare our representation for this world cup with the work done by London in securing the Olympic Games where clearly we used the multi-cultural nature of our country to the full.

[littlehampton]

Good to read some of the very interesting thought-provoking views posted to date.

 

We all have our thoughts on how and why things went so badly wrong with our bid, and why the promised votes of support clearly didn't materialise. Think if the truth is known, we don't have many friends at FIFA and the Sunday Times revelations cash-for-votes revelations, that led to the suspension of two FIFA ExCo members, coupled with the BBC Panorama's recent allegations of corruption by four FIFA ExCo members, created a backlash and resulted in England 2018's worst fears being realised.

 

There can be little doubt that England had the strongest commercial bid and ticked all the boxes. We would have delivered a great World Cup, but it wasn't to be, and England suffered the most excruciating humiliation since losing to the USA some 60 years ago. Think we are all entitled to feel disappointed and disillusioned, but perhaps not surprised by the outcome. As we all well know, sometimes the best team doesn't win.

 

Would be interested to hear what other people, players, managers, supporters, etc think of the decisions taken by FIFA.