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| How much? No no, not enough fro my vote |
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Well we didn’t win bid to host the World Cup and not only that but we only managed to get two votes in the first round.
Our media have gone berserk with claims of a fix and a scandal and although it is certainly sensational and maybe even patriotic journalism it is fair to say they have a point.
I’ve tried to look at the decision for 2018 and 2022 objectively and from a Fifa perspective you can understand that the legacy the World Cup will leave in both Russia and Qatar will be greater than what would be left in UK and possibly the US with regards infrastructure and the development of the country. They can also justify the decision by the fact the World Cup is a footballing showpiece that aims to bring the game to the far reaches of the globe not just those countries who already have established leagues, stadium and fan base.
Having said that, the decision still smacks of belligerence from Fifa and there is a huge stench of bribery and corruption. Fifa have never been great friends with England and the English FA. They resent the fact that our game is so powerful and influential across the globe, especially with the Premier League being a global success and generating the revenue that it does. It was clear for all to see that we had the strongest bid on a technical and commercial level and it was obvious we could host an amazing World Cup with the passion he have for the game and the multi-cultural society that already exists here in the UK.
It is apparent that the criteria Fifa set out for the bidding nations is clearly ignored when it comes to making the final decision. This is highlighted by the fact the technical report, that cost the England bid team £3m to carry out, was completely ignored. Both Russia and Qatar had the worst technical bids of all the competing nations but they both won the right to host the World Cup. Is it coincidence that both these nations are oil rich nations??? I think not.
Money talks when it comes to Fifa and their executive committee members, something that has been made apparent by the investigation of the British press and BBC outing some, if not all the bribery and corruption that takes place within Fifa. The committee members are clearly not honourable people, they are self-promoting, back stabbing, lying, money grabbing, egomaniacs who clearly value self promotion and profit over the benefit of the game globally and in their own regions. To promise votes face to face and then relinquish them is a true sign of cowardice and essentially shows the committee members who made these promises and then reigned on them as weak men. If they were not going to vote for England then be a man, be honourable and say so, we should ban all those who reigned on their promises from the country.
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| Total dejection from the bid team, who couldn't have done more |
What made these members change their minds??? We will never truly know, late night lobbying from the Russians, and their ability to offer top notch money laundering facilities through their government links with the Mafia, so the BBC can’t trace the bribes? It would be foolish to think that the media coverage did not harm our chances, this has been stated by Andy Anson as some of the reasons given to him by some committee members, and apparently it was the last thing the Blatter said to the committe before voting commenced, but it would also be foolish to think this was the only reason.
I can only hope this decision helps in mobilising and motivating the media even more to root out the corruption and bribery and general blasé attitude of the Fifa committee members to these practices. I also hope that our own FA and Premier League back the media and begin to really exert pressure on Fifa to reform their antiquated, highly irregular and clandestine voting system. The game in our country is very powerful, as are our clubs, with top players and managers from across every corner of the globe and our worldwide TV audience. We should begin to distance ourselves from Fifa, vocally and publically calling for change and reform and outing those who are mixed up in the clear corruption and political d*ck swinging that takes place in Fifa. If this decission was a backlash to our media then our media and FA should insitgate a huge backlash against Fifa.
Russia is a vast country, with poor transport links, a secretive undemocratic state where free speech is still punished, as highlighted by the killings of various journalists in recent times, and mafia gangs have huge influence. Add on top of that an inherent racist culture, where black players in the Russian Premier League are constantly subjected to abuse that goes unpunished by Fifa and UEFA and the massive problem of organised crime and match fixing that takes place in Russia it is difficult to see the logic in the decision.
Qatar is a country of 2 million people with temperatures reaching 50 degrees c in summer, too hot to even sit in never mind run around. It will be interesting to see whether the Qatar Fifa executive committee member stands in the election for the next Fifa president in 2011 as was widely predicted before this decision
As I said at the start of this post the only reasonable explanation is the legacy that Fifa believe the world cup will leave, with Russia being forced to invest in infrastructure and Qatar representing the Arab world not just their country. That and the huge bribes and promises of cheaper oil.
It is a very disappointing decision, especially as we had by far the best bid by far, but now our media and FA should focus on pushing for reform within Fifa rather than pandering to them to host any more tournaments. Football and Fifa will be much weaker without the backing of England and maybe we should look at starting our own regular invite only tournaments outside of Fifa and UEFA.
Fifa committee members are only out for themselves not football.
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