World Cup?

[observer]

Do we really want it in the UK ?

[asperity]

Whether we do or not, I don't think Call me Dave should be getting involved. Surely he has more important things to do - selling us out to the EUSSR for example

[Woody]

I definitely want it, in England, not the rest of the UK though

[Evil Sid]

i suggest the isle of man put in a bid.

[Sue Durnim]

Having watched the bids by Russia and England, I think both have missed a trick on the copy/promotion stakes.

 

England should have said:

 

?Footballers from every continent already play in our national game, it?s a legacy we have given to the globe, so now it?s time for football to come back to its England, its home!

 

(Theme tune: The Farm - Altogether now)

 

 

Russia should have said:

 

?Russia is now ready to kick start another revolution, that revolution is football!?

 

(Theme tune in background ?The Beatles ? Revolution?)

[Gary]

RUSSIA - now there's a surprise Mr Abramovich and his millions!!!

[Ian]

And Qatar for 2022. No point getting through the qualifiers for that one. We`d never survive the temperatures.

[observer]

Thank God for that.

[AdrianR]

And Qatar for 2022. No point getting through the qualifiers for that one. We`d never survive the temperatures.

 

Aircon pitches apprently creating a bubble of cooled air 10 feet above pitch level. believe it when i see it but with a bottomless pit of money then might be possible.

[Eagle]

Great news, pity the IOC didn't think the same way.

[Sue Durnim]

Very clever those Russians and the people of Doha.

 

I think what was a vote swinger for Russia, was that your ?World Cup Ticket? acted as a Visa and also gave the football fan free travel to and from stadia via trains and buses. Also for people of the west to explore parts of Russia never seen or heard of, must be a great place to discover.

 

As for the Qatar bid, building stadiums and then dismantling them to rebuild them in poorer nations and to have the tournament in a 30km circumference, must have been a vote winner.

[Egbert]

Should we be surprised when one of our "ambassadors" is a tatooed, inarticulate playboy whose only talent is for kicking a stationary ball?

[wolfie]

That's no way to talk about our Prime minister

[Peter T]

At least we have until 2030 to get a team capable of playing on the world stage and save us the embarrassment of hosting and getting annihilated by the novices in the early stages.

 

Think of the money that will be saved.

[observer]

Is it coincidence that Russia has been described as a Mafia State at the same time as FIFA officials are being accused of taking kick backs. Money corrupts Sport, and the more money involved, the deeper the corruption.

[asperity]

Well I would rather it was Russia forking out ?5 Billion than us for the pleasure of being ripped off by FIFA

[fugtifino]

I agree with aspers.

 

I won't even mention the tax breaks and marketing rights demanded by these crooks.

 

Oh...

 

And for anyone who might be interested, the Observer's (no, not him) Said & Done column regularly records FIFA's shortcomings:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/series/saidanddone

 

Here's one from October 3rd:

 

?16k: amount Fifa will donate to former Togo goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale, left unable to walk after being shot at the Africa Cup of Nations in January. Sepp told Obilale, who owes over ?100k in medical bills: "I wish you a lot of courage". (?170k: Bonuses paid by Sepp to all 208 Fifa associations in June ahead of next year's Fifa elections. "Call it a gift!" said Sepp. "We are a united and happy football family!")

 

The September 12th column claims FIFA have a ?670m reserve fund.

 

Yup, ?670m.

 

FIFA are the reason football's bent.

[observer]

Believe the Russian paid Sidane ?15million for his services as an ambassador for their bid - and he didn't even have to stick the head on anyone!

[Sue Durnim]

I get it?....

...just because England send a committee to bid for the World Cup 2018 and are congratulated for very good and slick presentation, then that is a basis for thinking we have won the right to hold the World Cup, just because we turned up at the event?

 

Then we get knocked out in the first round because we did not get enough votes, then the press etc take a bigoted view and accuse all foreigners of being liars and corrupt, that says more about England then any other country

 

It would be nice to hear and read that England can be gracious in defeat and say the best country won because they had the best bid, would benefit and contribute more by having it.

 

England does not need the world cup, the sport and infrastructure already exists, where in other countries it does not, surely England are wise and big enough to congratulate and support FIFA and the winning countries and wish them all the success they deserve instead of critersising and blaming them for England?s own failings.

[safeway56]

The voting delegates couldn't fail to be impressed by Beckam's new image, that of a rough sleeper.

[AdrianR]

I get it?....

...just because England send a committee to bid for the World Cup 2018 and are congratulated for very good and slick presentation, then that is a basis for thinking we have won the right to hold the World Cup, just because we turned up at the event?

 

 

Fifa's own reports had England as low risk, most profitable etc. Russai were medium and Qatar a high risk. I think the expectation was made from these reports which FIFA were supposed to consider before deciding. Sepp even said our presentation was exceptional.

 

Add to this apparent promises of votes and suspected financial mismanagement and you can perhaps undertsand why some countries (austraila included who got one vote and were low risk) are a bit confused.

[asperity]

England's bid was doomed from the start:

 

 

[Horace]

Surely the point is we have had it once already and we've got the Olympics coming? I know we are God's Own Country, but we can't expect everything! We should not have even made a bid. All we have done is made ourselves look silly.

[Peter T]

Surely the point is we have had it once already and we've got the Olympics coming? I know we are God's Own Country, but we can't expect everything! We should not have even made a bid. All we have done is made ourselves look silly.

 

A bit like the standard of the football.

[observer]

Well Boris has got them back; he's cancelled their freebie hotel rooms for the Olympics - which begs the question, why give them freebies in the first place?