England fail in 2018 World Cup bid

RECRIMINATIONS and accusations have begun after England failed to land the 2018 World Cup, in staggering circumstances.

CELEBRATION: Russia fans rejoice in Moscow at the vote

Russia got the vote for the 2018 finals, the first time that the tournament will be hosted in Eastern Europe and the faces in the auditorium in Zurich from the England bid team said it all.  Their fate had already been sealed, as their bid came fourth out of fourth – even behind the 50/1 outsider bid from Holland/Belgium.  England only collected two votes, and one of them was from their own delegate on the FIFA team, Geoff Thompson.  It is a humiliating outcome.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president flew into Switzerland, having not been present at the final vote, which hints at his high confidence that the bid was already won.  Russia, who had Arsenal playmaker Andrei Arshavin and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich amongst its ambassador team, won the contest in the second ballot of voting, getting over the magical twelve votes it needed.  Russia failed to qualify for the last World Cup in South Africa, and despite its clubs like CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg doing well in the UEFA Europa League, does have trouble in its own league, with hooliganism and racism issues.  Poor transport links, a lack of infrastructure and the plastic pitches around mean they have a lot to do, to pull off a staggering World Cup.  Nevertheless, well done to them and I wish them the best.

For England, many supporters will now never see a World Cup in their generation.  At the same ceremony, Qatar was awarded the 2022 finals and the 2026 finals can’t go to a European country.  England can’t bid now, until the 2030 finals and that makes the pain hurt even more.  There is already some serious questions about the validity of FIFA’s voting procedure, and accusations of revenge at the England 2018 bid for its extensive media coverage into corruption in FIFA has been mentioned.

England’s final pitch was polished, almost perfect.  It now feels totally pointless with how the voting went.  David Beckham said that “our dream was to stage a World Cup that will attract billions.”  That wasn’t enough for Sepp Blatter and the FIFA delegates.

BRAVE: William and Beckham's efforts were in vain

Outside, the bid team were putting on brave faces.  Prince William was dignified when he faced the media; “Obviously, we are extremely disappointed.”  “We had a very strong bid, sadly it didn’t work out.  Many congratulations to Russia, it will be a good World Cup.”  Having flown back to London, Prime Minister David Cameron couldn’t hide his frustration, at something he has worked extremely hard since he got into power hadn’t worked out; “It is bitterly disappointing.  According to FIFA, we had the best technical bid.  I think we had a very strong commercial bid too.”

FATE: Fingers pointing at Panorama and BBC

There is dignity within the camp, but on the inside, the bid team must be full of rage and fury.  Inquests were starting well before the embarrassment of the crushing defeat was fully revealed.  Finger pointing is already seriously being aimed at the BBC and the Panorama programme, which was shown on Monday night.  Panorama alleged that three FIFA officials from Brazil, Cameroon and Paraguay had taken part in massive corruption scandals many years ago.  The timing of the programme couldn’t be worse.  The Sunday Times also ran stings, which accused several other delegates of corruption in the game, which led to the suspension of two executives from the voting procedure.  Previously, chairman of the Premier League Sir David Richards and the FA chief Lord Treisman had resigned from the team, after conflicting issues and allegations of bribery were made, in Treisman’s case, again from revelations by The Sunday Times.  This result has led to dodgy practices and secret deals within the football world governing body being questioned again. 

Sports news reporter Steve Scott summed up the general mood on ITN’s News at Ten programme; “FIFA delegates were telling England one thing, then voted completely a different route.  The British press investigations did not help at all, but that wasn’t the only factor.  Now, Sepp Blatter has now managed to take the World Cup to Asia, Africa and now Russia and Qatar.  Maybe England never realistically stood a chance.”

Tonight, as the snow continued to fall outside a very chilly Wembley stadium, English football is left wandering just when the beautiful game that we created we end up coming home and welcoming the world.