World Cup 2018 bid

[Lord Zola]

Spot on Fingers...........The last World Cup was a absolute bore.........give me Premiership football over international football any day of the week.

I think we went into the bid a little naively. Rightly or wrongly, the bid was always going to go to Russia, as Blatters' legacy is to take football to new areas of the globe.

I agree the way Russians do business to us is dishonest, but to them, it's just how things work. They are a different culture who operate to different morals....and to them bribery is all part of the pitch. If the system was better regulated, then it would not be open to corruption. We all agreed that that is what needs changing.

In fairness they will probably put on a great World Cup, although the racism issue Fingers alludes to is a very real possibility.

PS - The entry visa usually required is waivered for a World Cup.

[Goat]

There were certain FIFA delegates who looked the England bid team in the eye and pledged their unswerving support, only to cast their votes elsewhere.

Rapscallions and scurvy pieces of work !

Gerald

[dodge]

I agree with what Fingers just said. It does not seem to be as important nowadays. The South Africa World Cup was bad enough. No atmosphere, worst pitches ever seen in recent times, and thats not sour grapes because we did not perform. I think Russia might be an ok place to have it. It may be less Corporate and less about the money, as this is what football is becoming. Im more dissappointed about the Qatar one. That is solely about the money, it will be in probably Air conditioned stadiums in the middle of the nowhere all just plastic and fake with no atmosphere, with nothing for supporters to do in between matches. Just a heartless soleless tournament. What the Hell do they know about Football. What im saying is you can buy the new stadiums etc but you cant buy the Heart and Sole and atmosphere of what true football tournaments are about.

Proper football nations should stage World cups where its in the blood. Like the next one in Brazil should be good. The Dutch would of made a good job or Spain.

Its also obvious Sepp Blatter and the rest of the FIFA mafia, which is basically all the are, don't like the English Fa. As they are jealous because our Premier league is getting more powerful then FIFA itself. I would love it if he was found out of being corrupt. Because as long as he is involved we have no chance.

But we have to watch ourselfs in this country as we are making the same mistakes by letting all these foreign owners taking over our clubs, thinking they can just buy everything. Its more then then that. which a lot of them are finding out at the moment.

[swoopy]

Goat: There were certain FIFA delegates who looked the future King of England in the eye and pledged their unswerving support, only to cast their votes elsewhere.

Off with their heads!

Geoff: A certain Russian has proved that he can buy the Premier League and has now possibly bought the World Cup. Thank goodness the Russian space programme is run down or they'd be buying their way to the Intergalactic Cup.

I'd drop your Chelsea avatar as a protest Geoff!

[spacey]

I don’t see why in this day and age the World Cup venue should be decided by 22 people or 22 votes.

I would understand if we were still in the last century but we are not, future venues should be decided by those who matter the most “The Fans”

OK FIFA can do the leg work, select the short list of X number of entries, but the final decision goes with the fans.

With technology as it is today fans worldwide should decide, FANS could watch the presentations on TV or internet, then make our own decision vote by text or internet with a fee for each entry, there can be two or three rounds one each week with the final week to decide the winner (yeah I know sounds like X factor)

Then the country with the most votes gets to host the competition, in the process raising money for certain global charities and football in developing countries.

[Masky]

The other advantage of getting 2018 was that we wouldn't have had to qualify - Doh!

I am hoping this weekend quality papers have some juicy inside info about what, who and why etc.

I am no longer disappointed thanks to the superb display at cricket - a gentlemens game

[Goat]

Goat: There were certain FIFA delegates who looked the future King of England in the eye and pledged their unswerving support, only to cast their votes elsewhere.

Off with their heads!
!

Having first been thrashed to within an inch of their lives !

Gerald

[guerrero]

I think we are in danger of putting ourselves on a pedastel here,and being a bit "Holier than though".
Please remember where Abramovic plies his trade on a weekly basis.
Don't think that we Brits don't duck,dive and tell a few porkies.We just didn't do it well enough this time.We serenaded Warner and he spurned our advances.We pulled out all the stops,but Wills,Becks and Dave didn't have the clout.
I have seen wannabee Blatters and Warners throughout my years in the game.They filter their way right down to the County League.They love the power.
We Brits should do what we do best.Lick our wounds,keep a stiff upper lip and be good losers.

If there was any doubt that the whole thing was rigged,England should have pulled out immediately.They still thought they were in with a shout and wouldn't have said a word if they had won the bid.

Football gets more like wrestling year by year.

[Supeteddy]

I'm more concerned that so many games in Russia will be during work hours!
I can't see many South American teams enjoying it over there just as much as I can see all the euro sides loving the 50 c temps in Quatar.

At the end of the day England do not brown nose FIFA anywhere enough to get the world cup.

I agree with the press I would not bother to bid again full stop.

[between the sticks]

too much power with people from emerging countries for whom smoothing the way with dosh is the way that business is done. Let the bigger countries control things. Bring the world cup back to being for the top nations and have a second tier competition where the best of the rest can qualify for a couple of slots. Can anyone see winners from anywhere but europe or south america?

[Keva]

So a World "Plate" competition the year before involving lesser nations like Pharoes, Lichstestein, Scotland etc as well as the third world nations who have no chance qualifying with say two finalist gaining a place at the World Cup.

Some African nations would be good enough to be there by right, Ghana,Ivory Coast, and maybe a few others.

[anorak]

Yep lets turn it into the Premier League or the misnamed Champions league where we know the top four before a ball is kicked. It is after all called the World Cup, also which one would England be in?

[shevchenko]

Not sure why all the fuss over the World Cup 2018 decision. Isn't that just the way football works. My experience of The FA, Sussex County FA and local clubs is that they are all the same. Our FA is a monopoly, an old boys network that has left our football years behind other countries. Disappointed the World Cup in 2018 will not be in England but little sympathy for our FA. The campaign not to recognise FIFA should start with our own governing body.

Shevva

[Geoff]

Wouldn't it be brave if the FA broke away from FIFA (again). The only Association in the world known as the FA, everyone else has to have their country name behind it. Wouldn't it be great if the FA made a statement saying 'we will have nothing to do with FIFA whilst the body is inherently corrupt'. Would we end up with a boxing situation where there are two or more world bodies? Or even like darts. Wouldn't it be interesting to see who would join the non corrupt bandwagon, and would anyone care if we were isolated from world football? Just a debating point.

[Travelling South]

The biggest irony of all this is that England were supposedly cast aside because the committee did not feel they could deal with the English press for 7.5 years. Well I think they might well have a rougher ride by not voting for England!!

As has been alluded to previously, if there is corruption within FIFA I give it no more than 18 months before it is comprehensively unearthed by this country's press, and I don't mean to the degree of the Panorama programme which I'm afraid appeared to be little more than a Columbo 'wannabe' with a bit of a grudge against FIFA!