World Cup Bid

[DelBoyRodders]

Only in England could a bunch of sad cynical football fans want their country to lose a World Cup bid.

Normal people would embrace it and see it as being great for English sport.

[who are ya?]

Normal people would embrace it and see it as being great for English sport.

Is that a scientific fact? Maybe normal people would prefer to get a sun tan and eat paella. Who are we to judge??

[roadrunner]

Couldn't care less if we hold hold it or not. It might give us an edge for once, as Euro 96 did, but otherwise I'm really not fussed. With regards to how hosting the World Cup would be great for English sport, are you kidding? The English FA do very little compared to most other countries, most notably Spain in developing youngsters and that isn't likely to change much if at all.

[rhroyal]

I can't understand why any football fans wouldn't want the best competition in the world held in their country. That is all.

[Row Z Royal]

I can't understand why any football fans wouldn't want the best competition in the world held in their country. That is all.

Agreed with this. It would be awesome and worth paying £40 to watch Togo vs Venzuela at Bristol City. No jokes either.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

I think we should win the bid and I'll be furious with respective newspapers if they cost us. We've got the stadiums, the infrastructure and the fans to stage a great one and our hooligans appear to be in decline.

If we do lose the bid, as is looking increasingly likely, it can't be to Russia. It's a hugely inappropriate country. Hostile to outsiders, dangerous and generally a mess. Don't believe me, [url]read this shocking interview posted on another thread[/url]. Quite simply, it will be a shameful, desperate attempt by Fifa to spread football to "unknown waters" without enough thought about if the country is ready and the consequences. Rather like Ukraine in 2012, some are arguing.

I love it when people (nothing personal m8)trot out about the stadiums and the infrastructure.
Most of our stadia are in the most difficult areas to get to by road or rail.
Take Old Trafford (a bit of a sprawling dump these days)as one that is difficult to get to as is the next largest Arsenal's Emirates in this crowded country of ours.
What about Wembley itself?-a diabolical location.
Personally I have no great desire for us to hold it again but maybe I'm being a bit selfish having been to 2 of the games in 1966.

I haven't been to Old Trafford for over 20 years, but it didn't strike me as that difficult to get to. And Both Wembley and the Emirates are a piece of piss to get to by public transport.


As for Russia being dangerous and hostile, I've been there, and been to three games there, and it didn't strike me as being noticeably dangerous or hostile. In fact the number of police on duty everywhere made you wonder how there's any crime there at all. And it's rather absurd to label Russia as "unknown waters". That makes it sound like they only started playing the game in the last decade or so.

[prostak]

Russia is far more corrupt than Britain though. That's probably a boon for their bid, given the way in which FIFA is run. As for violence - Rev, I don't want to presume but I guess you're white? I think you're far more likely to be assaulted for being black or Asian in Petersburg or Moscow than London or Manchester.

I don't really care where it is held, but I disagree that hosting the tournament would be 'great for English sport'. As the London Olympics are demonstrating, these international tournaments are about business and international cock-waving primarily. How else can you interpret it when the single biggest sports field in Europe (Hackney Marshes) is being closed for 3 years to make way for car parking?

Old Trafford is extremely easy to get to, incidentally - there are 3 different modes of public transport serving the stadium. Arsenal's stadium is quite hard to escape from, both times I've attended games there involved at least 30 minutes of waiting to be let in to the tube station.

[Stuka]

as one that is difficult to get to as is the next largest Arsenal's Emirates in this crowded country of ours.
What about Wembley itself?-a diabolical location.
Personally I have no great desire for us to hold it again but maybe I'm being a bit selfish having been to 2 of the games in 1966.

How is Emirates Stadium difficult to get to? There's three tube stations near by, Finsbury Park rail and busses going up and down Holloway Road.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Interesting article from the Grauniad, speculating that the bid will be lost :

http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/sSw ... mentisfree

[soggy biscuit]

LOL @ all the talk of possibly losing it because of these newspapers revalations about other bidders being shady. Deffo can't lose it because someone else has a better bid than us

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

LOL @ all the talk of possibly losing it because of these newspapers revalations about other bidders being shady. Deffo can't lose it because someone else has a better bid than us

Nobody is suggesting that. The point is that we've gone from being a leading contender, possibly the favourite, to being disliked by the voting committee. When faced with the chance to come clean and rid itself of the institutionalised corruption in FIFA, everything now points to them taking a "shoot the messanger" approach instead. When FIFA's own ethics panel makes statements saying it regards reporters exposing corruption as unethical, it's not hard to see where its sympathies lie.

[rhroyal]

LOL @ all the talk of possibly losing it because of these newspapers revalations about other bidders being shady. Deffo can't lose it because someone else has a better bid than us

If you'd been following the news, you'd have seen how we've gone from hot favourites to rank outsiders simultaneously with the Sunday Times and Panorama stories. Either that's a mightily big coincidence, or we're losing the bid because of it.

[Uke]

Pretty definitive naming of names by the Beeb tonight!

[soggy biscuit]

LOL @ all the talk of possibly losing it because of these newspapers revalations about other bidders being shady. Deffo can't lose it because someone else has a better bid than us

If you'd been following the news, you'd have seen how we've gone from hot favourites to rank outsiders simultaneously with the Sunday Times and Panorama stories. Either that's a mightily big coincidence, or we're losing the bid because of it.

Genuine question - How do we know who are favourites and who are outsiders until the day the winner is announced?

[Silver Fox]

Has Panorama really affected our bid is it yet more BBC h8 in the rest of the media?

For me if FIFA would rather give 2018 to a country where there isn't a free press so they can get away with whatever corrupt practices they want then they should do so and fvck off while they're at it.

[Uke]

Has Panorama really affected our bid is it yet more BBC h8 in the rest of the media?

Ironically led by the Murdoch press of course

BBC never linked the bribes with votes

The Sunday Times however...

TBF Russia had this in the bag for ages (and the incriminating picture negatives as well)

[Kitsondinho]

IOC investigating Panorama findings.......FIFA do f**k all.......wanted the WC....but I don't care anymore. We were whiter than white making the bid, if that isn't enough then stuff 'em and the stupid BBC hating press!!

[Royal Rother]

Has Panorama really affected our bid is it yet more BBC h8 in the rest of the media?

For me if FIFA would rather give 2018 to a country where there isn't a free press so they can get away with whatever corrupt practices they want then they should do so and fvck off while they're at it.

Agreed.

[TheMaraudingDog]

To be fair to Meldrew getting to OT can be difficult when wearing a tracksuit with a perm and tash

[Mr Angry]

I will be shocked if we win.

Giving the World Cup isn't about things like history, passionate fans, infrastructure and the like - its about politics, abd, has been exposed, corruption.

England have zero chance of winning because the South Americans will vote for Spain/Portugal, The Asians will vote for Russia, and whilst we will get the US vote, that will be countered by Jack Warner in CONACAF voting for anybody other than us because that man has always had a chip on his shoulder about England.

My prediction;

Holland/Belguim out first round
England out second round
Spain/Portugal out third round
Russia win it.