FIFA reject the World Cup 2018 bid

The team behind England’s 2018 World Cup bid presentation did a first class job. The last minute lobbying by the PM, Prince William and David Beckham had us almost believing it was in the bag. As good as they were, when old Sepp Blatter came on stage it was always going to end in tears. It is widely acknowledged that England had the outstanding bid. However, Blatter moved the goalposts and awarded the tournament to Russia for different reasons.

It is no secret that Blatter and his friends in FIFA have a huge chip on their shoulder where English football is concerned. They hate the premiership with a passion and were never going to miss an opportunity to stick the boot in. You get the distinct impression they would rather stage the World Cup at the North Pole than let it come back to its spiritual home.

There will now be speculation as whether the BBC Panorama programme had any bearing on the outcome of the bid. We will probably never know for sure but it certainly did not improve our chances. The decision to air the programme on the eve of the bid announcement was selfish and reckless on their part.

England will submit another bid in the future but it could be a pointless exercise if Blatter is still pulling the strings. Let’s be honest, if the PM, Royalty and Goldenballs cannot swing the vote then nobody can.

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