It was meant to be the day that saw football returned to it's motherland, it was meant to be a day of celebration to warm up the hearts and minds of millions of football followers across the country in the sub-zero weather, it was meant to be the day that England won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
HOWEVER, like the weather, it froze, England's chance to host the showpiece froze, FIFA froze.
With the best technical bid and the best presentation, England surely were clearly favourites to host the event, so why did the Russia bid beat ours?
FIFA now has many questions to answer, it was not just the decision to give the 2018 bid to Russia that raised eyebrows- it was also the the decision to hand the 2022 event to Qatar- yes the country half the size of Wales, yes the country that has never featured in a World Cup and yes the country that tempratures reach 50C in the competition months.
Of course the BBC in England were critiscised for showing their Panorama programme just two days before the final vote, a show that labelled FIFA as corrupt, even I was critical, but maybe instead of critiscm, the BBC should of been a bit louder so that everyone sat up and took notice.
Recieving just two votes and being eliminated from the voting in the first round hurt, it hurt me, it hurt the people of England, it hurt the bid team, but the people it might have hurt the most is FIFA.
The result of the votes has raised many questions that FIFA may not have the answers to and this could be the 'beginning of the end' for the FIFA delegates who saw this voting process as a quick way to make some money.
The time has come for FIFA to be investigated 'root and branch' and any wrong-doings from anyone should be thrown off the panel, no questions asked.
So Mr Blatter and FIFA delegates get ready for a rough ride over the next few months, this one wont go away for a long time.
What do you think of FIFA and do you agree with the decision to give the 2018 and 2022 bids to Russia and Qatar?
Let me know :)
We were naive and taken along on a rather expensive, time consuming ride. Blatter wants to go down in history as the FIFA president who took the World Cup far and wide. He wanted it in Africa, in a country behind the former Iron Curtain, and in the Middle East. The delegates were going to support Blatter. He has greased the palms of their FAs...
ReplyDeleteWe were quite happy to get the support of odious, corrupt officials too...Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, for instance!
Oligarchs like Abramovich are clearly useful to Blatter too.
I fear that we will now not get the World Cup in your lifetime. FIFA presidents need world support...not old mother country support. I suspect China, Indonesia, India and USA again, will get the World Cup long before we are considered.
I hope that the World Cup will be in this country during my lifetime, however I agree that we must wait until something at FIFA changes before we ever bid again.
ReplyDeleteA bid is not cheap and as you mention is time consuming and we should no longer waste money on the bid, just for the corrupt delegates to mock us to line their pockets with bribes of cash.
The real question is though is how will FIFA ever change if all the delegates are as corrupt as each other?