2018

[floyd__streete]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8293866.stm

What a crock of sh*t from Warner. So he wants to see more of David Beckham gurning whilst holding a scarf aloft? How would that help prove our undoubted credentials to host a major tournament, perhaps all he really wants is to be wined and dined a bit more. Does the quality of stadia in England not speak more loudly than any media profile ever could? Does the fact that we are one of the major nations in world football but we haven't hosted the event in more than 40 years not give an inkling that it is our turn? We have the infrastructure, now stop dicking about and give us the World Cup.

[Seal]

To give the context...

The FA hired Peter Hargitay, who is an ex FIFA spin doctor to work on the bid, and also Jack Warner's best mate. Once the FA had got all they needed / wanted out of Hargitay, they sacked him off. He's now working for a rival bid, and no suprise that his pal Warner has stuck the boot in.

On top of that Warner has it in for England as some Daily Mail investigative journalist as been snooping around him for about 10 years trying to expose his dealings. Therefore he feels the entire British media are against him so he is not shy of sticking to England. No smoke without fire of course and he is without doubt a dodgy fooker, but that's the background as to why he gets involved.

[Thaumagurist*]

France, Germany, Mexico, Italy have had hosted a world cup twice and Brazil will soon have hosted it twice. So, I'd say we should be getting a turn soon.

Not to mention that France and Italy have hosted the European Championships twice and Germany once.

[Stranded]

You don't just get a turn - we'll get if we're the best option (or bribe enough people).

[Barry the bird boggler]

Given where the money is in the game, and by far the majority of those countries who are actually capable of hosting the thing, what is the point in only having the tounament in Europe once every 12 or 16 years (supposedly)...

[Royal Rother]

The dodgiest of dodgy fookers. Obviously nobody has given him anything yet.

Warner has been accused of corruption on BBC's Panorama for repeatedly taking advantage of his position for financial gain. FIFA's auditors, Ernst & Young, estimated that his family made a profit of at least $1 million from reselling 2006 World Cup tickets that Warner had ordered.

Minutes of FIFA’s executive committee indicate that a fine of almost $1 million, equal to the expected profiteering, was imposed on the family. Despite numerous reminders from FIFA, only $250,000 has been paid.

After Trinidad and Tobago visited Scotland for the friendly match on May 30, 2004 at Easter Road, Edinburgh, Jack Warner asked SFA President John McBeth for the cheque for the game to be made out to him personally and not the FA of Trinidad and Tobago. McBeth refused to issue the cheque to Warner. Warner also approached several members of staff at the Scottish Football Association in an attempt to get the money due to the T&T FA.

[Dirk Gently]

Given where the money is in the game, and by far the majority of those countries who are actually capable of hosting the thing, what is the point in only having the tounament in Europe once every 12 or 16 years (supposedly)...

To grow the game across the world, and not just in the areas where it is already most successful?

[Compo's Hat]

On top of that Warner has it in for England as some Daily Mail investigative journalist as been snooping around him for about 10 years trying to expose his dealings. Therefore he feels the entire British media are against him so he is not shy of sticking to England. No smoke without fire of course and he is without doubt a dodgy fooker, but that's the background as to why he gets involved.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/p ... 215094.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/p ... 061626.stm

[prostak]

To grow the game across the world, and not just in the areas where it is already most successful?

God bless you, Dirk, but I'm pretty sure you're on a hiding to nothing there.

[Wimb]

Well having been at the speech, Warner was at least passionate he also spoke about increasing the pace of the game and giving fans more value for money (pointed out some games only get 44 minutes of actual play out of 90)

He has actually (IMO) boosted England's bid as it's got people talking about us and might actually galvanise people to back the bid a bit more. Lord Triesman and the head of the 2018 bid admitted that they'd had a 'bad day' after Warner's comments but said that they were in control and were going to pace the bid their way and not be told how to run it.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

English Football has the best facilities in the world.

[prostak]

Well having been at the speech, Warner was at least passionate he also spoke about increasing the pace of the game and giving fans more value for money

Excellent notion, perhaps we can start by eradicating corruption such as bent businessmen funnelling funds away from national FAs into their own pockets?

[Victor Meldrew]

English Football has the best facilitates in the world.

Presumably you are talking about "facilities".
If you are, what about access to grounds?
The road and rail access to most of our grounds is diabolical.
We have old fashioned stadia like Old Trafford,Anfield,Goodison,Villa Park,Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane which although being quaint can hardly be described as having the best facilities.
Wembley and The Emirates are fine when you get there if you can find a convenient way of getting there.

The North-East grounds are modern and not too bad to reach,likewise Man City.
If only the National stadium had been built somewhere like the Ricoh it would have been much more accessible for so many more people than the ludicrous position that is Wembley.

We are long overdue the competition for footballing reasons but I'm afraid you sound like a modern politician or an RFC chairman/manager by declaring that English football has the best facilities as if it were a fact.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

English Football has the best facilitates in the world.

Presumably you are talking about "facilities".
If you are, what about access to grounds?
The road and rail access to most of our grounds is diabolical.
We have old fashioned stadia like Old Trafford,Anfield,Goodison,Villa Park,Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane which although being quaint can hardly be described as having the best facilities.
Wembley and The Emirates are fine when you get there if you can find a convenient way of getting there.

The North-East grounds are modern and not too bad to reach,likewise Man City.
If only the National stadium had been built somewhere like the Ricoh it would have been much more accessible for so many more people than the ludicrous position that is Wembley.

We are long overdue the competition for footballing reasons but I'm afraid you sound like a modern politician or an RFC chairman/manager by declaring that English football has the best facilities as if it were a fact.

But which other countries have good facilities then? The Nou Camp in Spain isn't the easiest to get too. England is where football was created, it's where the world's most popular league is played in and why shouldn't the 'older' grounds get the taste of World Cup football?

[Victor Meldrew]

English Football has the best facilitates in the world.

Presumably you are talking about "facilities".
If you are, what about access to grounds?
The road and rail access to most of our grounds is diabolical.
We have old fashioned stadia like Old Trafford,Anfield,Goodison,Villa Park,Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane which although being quaint can hardly be described as having the best facilities.
Wembley and The Emirates are fine when you get there if you can find a convenient way of getting there.

The North-East grounds are modern and not too bad to reach,likewise Man City.
If only the National stadium had been built somewhere like the Ricoh it would have been much more accessible for so many more people than the ludicrous position that is Wembley.

We are long overdue the competition for footballing reasons but I'm afraid you sound like a modern politician or an RFC chairman/manager by declaring that English football has the best facilities as if it were a fact.

But which other countries have good facilities then? The Nou Camp in Spain isn't the easiest to get too. England is where football was created, it's where the world's most popular league is played in and why shouldn't the 'older' grounds get the taste of World Cup football?

Well some have had it already.
I'm not arguing about it being time for the World Cup to be played here again,I'm arguing that places like Germany for instance have better facilities than us especially in terms of access and size and you have come out (like Brendan,JM,Cameron et al) with hype about our facilities being the best in the world.
Our grounds are certainly amongst the most expensive,if not the most,and the catering is generally dire.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

English Football has the best facilitates in the world.

Presumably you are talking about "facilities".
If you are, what about access to grounds?
The road and rail access to most of our grounds is diabolical.
We have old fashioned stadia like Old Trafford,Anfield,Goodison,Villa Park,Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane which although being quaint can hardly be described as having the best facilities.
Wembley and The Emirates are fine when you get there if you can find a convenient way of getting there.

The North-East grounds are modern and not too bad to reach,likewise Man City.
If only the National stadium had been built somewhere like the Ricoh it would have been much more accessible for so many more people than the ludicrous position that is Wembley.

We are long overdue the competition for footballing reasons but I'm afraid you sound like a modern politician or an RFC chairman/manager by declaring that English football has the best facilities as if it were a fact.

But which other countries have good facilities then? The Nou Camp in Spain isn't the easiest to get too. England is where football was created, it's where the world's most popular league is played in and why shouldn't the 'older' grounds get the taste of World Cup football?

How's the Nou Camp hard to get to? (unless you fly with Ryanair). There's a metro stop about 400 yards away.


Your "I know England's bid is best, even though I haven't checked" attitude is the very thing most likely to cost England the world cup. The kind of complacency which thinks the stadiums we have now are fine and don't need updating (and are the best in the world). Anfield, for example, isn't up to current world cup standards. The stands are too close to the pitch, which is itself too small for the world cup, being too narrow and too short.

If other countries, such as the USA, Spain, Holland/Belgium etc are seen to be putting a real effort in, and England trundle along thinking "we'll win it because we're England", we'll lose the bid.


The bid isn't about what's built now. It's about what will be ready in 2018 or 2022.

[Deadlock]

Anfield, for example, isn't up to current world cup standards. The stands are too close to the pitch, which is itself too small for the world cup, being too narrow and too short.

Without detracting from your overall point, you'd really hope that Stanley Park Stadium would be ready by 2018. Or at least started.

[Royalee]

Wembley
Old Trafford
Eastlands
St James Park
Stadium of Light
Emirates
Stamford Bridge
Stanley Park
New Tottenham Stadium
Olympic Stadium (West Ham)

There will be TEN stadiums easily good enough to stage games and that's before we even delve into smaller grounds such as MK Dons, Pride Park, the Riverside and so forth (which are still bigger than several grounds which have staged major tournaments recently). Yet we're staging world cups in the likes of South Africa?!

As for having stadiums and infrastructure of to scratch, when was the last time you visited Brazil Rev?

FIFA are an absolute joke and somebody should gather Blatter, Platini and Warner, put them in a room and blow it up - it'll do football the most good it would ever have had.

[prostak]

Royalee,
- 3 of your cited stadiums are yet to be built, and two of those are still without even planning permission.
- I can't imagine FIFA being too keen on a bid proposing only 3 host cities and, in Sunderland, one host post-industrial hellhole. That would be the lowest number since 1962.
- The Olympic Stadium (which you associate for no clear reason with a club who have had their offer of tenancy rejected - note also a post-Games capacity of 25.000) will be an athletics stadium - and will remain so.
- The Denbigh Stadium in Milton Keynes holds 22.000, although I'll grant you Tinpot Benito Winkelman has grand visions of this increasing by 10.000. Even with that increase, though, which recent World Cup venue is this larger than?
- Platini is currently nothing to do with FIFA.
- Of late, there has been a definite effort by the governing bodies to award tournaments to economically developing nations with the intention of helping to accelerate that development through football. Maybe it's just fashionable, maybe it's genuinely a hitherto-undiscovered sense of social responsibility from Blatter et al, but in Poland at least (the only one of the forthcoming host nations I have strong knowledge of), the forthcoming Euro Championships are already having an impact on construction and regeneration.

Other than that, great post.

[Royalee]

Royalee,
- 3 of your cited stadiums are yet to be built, and two of those are still without even planning permission.
- I can't imagine FIFA being too keen on a bid proposing only 3 host cities and, in Sunderland, one host post-industrial hellhole. That would be the lowest number since 1962.
- The Olympic Stadium (which you associate for no clear reason with a club who have had their offer of tenancy rejected - note also a post-Games capacity of 25.000) will be an athletics stadium - and will remain so.
- The Denbigh Stadium in Milton Keynes holds 22.000, although I'll grant you Tinpot Benito Winkelman has grand visions of this increasing by 10.000. Even with that increase, though, which recent World Cup venue is this larger than?
- Platini is currently nothing to do with FIFA.
- Of late, there has been a definite effort by the governing bodies to award tournaments to economically developing nations with the intention of helping to accelerate that development through football. Maybe it's just fashionable, maybe it's genuinely a hitherto-undiscovered sense of social responsibility from Blatter et al, but in Poland at least (the only one of the forthcoming host nations I have strong knowledge of), the forthcoming Euro Championships are already having an impact on construction and regeneration.

Other than that, great post.

Green Point Stadium - not built yet, Durban Stadium only just built, Soccer City only just built, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium only finished this summer, Mbombela Stadium only just built, Peter Mokaba Stadium only just built. That's 6 of the 10 stadiums for the world cup in South Africa not even built when their bid was made, so I think we're in a slightly better position to make a bid than next year's hosts were when the bidding for 2010 was made. I forgot about Villa Park, Everton's proposed new ground, Elland Road and Hillsborough where redevelopment plans are afoot.

I'm well aware Platini is the president of UEFA thanks (although he seems to have got it into his head that his responsibilities lie solely with the French FA as he fights his one-man crusade against the Premiership with tapping up rows, limiting our number of European Club Competition places and so forth), he needs to go as well for the good of football along with Warner who seems to have managed to get into a top football job with little to no football experience at the highest level with crap infrastructure and a history of failure to properly host sporting events in his own region (who could forget the way in which the Caribbean totally screwed the Cricket World Cup last year with poorly-built stadiums, shit infrastructure and transport links with the added genius of pricing tickets out of the range of their main potential market?). Still, he must know what he's on about if he bangs on about media image as he's done an excellent job of building one in this country - I'm surprised he hasn't built a PR firm and sold it for millions with his subtlety and charm.

I agree with the idea of spreading the wealth of the game, but this should be done through investment at grass roots level which is what should have been done in the case of South Africa - I very much doubt the stadiums built will be fully-utilised after the tournament as they simply do not have the quality of football and demand to fill them, look at how crap the gates were for the Confederations Cup. The FIFA World Cup is the flagship tournament of the beautiful game and should go to a country fully deserving and most importantly READY to host such an event. England is better-placed than most to do this and simply has to be given the green light this time around.