England's Bid for the 2018 (Football) World Cup

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8321089.stm

Are the WAG's part of an advisory group? ;)

A timely thread. The bid is already part of our 'golden decade of sport'.

http://oraclespeak.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/gordon-brown21.jpg
"One Ryder Cup and two Rugby World Cups"

http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/sep2009/5/3/gordon-brown-labour-conference-pic-getty-394541581.jpg
"I can today announce not one but two Ryder Cups - representing a Ryder Cup increase of 100% under this government"

Wait, the 2013 Rugby League World Cup AND the 2014 Commonwealth Games??

anyway good luck england but the 2018 world cup is coming to Westfield Shoppingtown Headquarters australia

Pah - we don't even need to mention the 2011 world badminton championships.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c7/US-2020Bid.jpg

Ugh, we have the worst logo of the bunch, thats for sure. Not like we have a shot in hell, but hey!

"I don't care if you're red, yellow, blue..."

Anyone think England will get it?

Uh, no?

I am absolutely certain we will.

I think sam is right.

Because everyone loves fat pink dudes without tops on a sunny 17 degrees day in the background of a Argentina vs Ivory Coast thriller.

No.

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2008/07/westhamfightAP_450x300.jpg

Bid in crisis - "ante up" says 'Richard Caborn'

Are the Tories up for this?

Surely not. The government can't even afford any cash for it except by loan as it is. The handbag story is bloody ridiculous too - it doesn't get much worse than a FIFA Committee member declining a gift as unethical.

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/1339/logoba.jpg

I find the logo quite endearing though

ewww, that isn't real is it? are they... trying to make the olympic logo look good in comparison?

bid logos have to be shit, its the rules

seems a non-story anyway - no talk of other countries having particualrly strong(er) bids. they will definitely hold either 18 or 22 in Europe so on that basis it strikes me as a 3 horse race between England, Portugal-Spain (tho joint bids aren't popular now iirc) and Russia (can see them winning).

It's a bit cheeky of Japan, bidding again already. I can't really imagine World Cups in Russia or Indonesia - might be quite cool.

Phew! Bid back on track: decision-making process streamlined. I fucking love this sport.

ex-Birmingham director Karren Brady are among six members to have stood down from England's 2018 World Cup bid team.

thank fuck

No.

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2008/07/westhamfightAP_450x300.jpg

― Lord Byron Bay of Pigs (SeekAltRoute), Thursday, October 22, 2009 7:32 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol this happened in the US

England'll get one, USA the other

btw I've always wondered what is on that screaming tattooed guy's face, what do you think that is?

That's tattoos? I was thinking Global Hypercolor was making a comeback.

I would hazard a guess that they have been covering in that stupid silly string stuff that comes out of aerosols at the sort of "wacky" "fun" parties that I'd rather not be at. Why they fuck anyone's spraying it around football matches is anyone's guess.

What's that guy on the left up the top of the stairs got tucked up his t-shirt?

Nation holds breath as cities bid for chance to host tourney

I mean, how much effort does London really need to put in to its bid? They should just send in one of those postcards with punks on the front and 'you know you want it' scrawled on the back.

You'd think Manchester wouldn't need to bother either, just put a big picture of Carlos Tevez and something from the Commonwealth Games up there.

lol Plymouth

getting big cynical vibes from the press about the bid a lot of the time. and it seems almost impossible for the FA/bid to not come across as smug and arrogant...esp. with those smug arrogant tossers at FIFA :/

They should just send in one of those postcards with punks on the front and 'you know you want itfuck you sad provincials' scrawled on the back.

That might sting the FA into leading with Pride Park as world cup final venue

pretty sure that the FAI could broker a deal in exchange for admitting henry didn't handle it

Football really is coming home: hero Brown gets Jack Warner's support

"most importantly he didn't feel England had any divine right (to host the tournament) ... Next week I will meet David Beckham in Cape Town. These are not for my ego, but they are the assets that the bid should be using and I am happy to see that they are being used."

I feel unclean just reading this stuff.

Triesman out

seriously this whole thing is a fucking joke...why don't countries just apply to host, make a detailed plan, and it's reviewed and acted on and a country gets the world cup. instead it's like each country has to perform an erotic dance in front of sepp, assemble a crack team of celebs and ex pros to back the bid, and buy the rival bidders a bottle of wine and some flowers. ffs just give england the world cup, they won't have had it in 50 years by 2018, everyone loves football there and they have a ton of stadia. NO BRAINER. some crazy old lord should have nothing to do with the process!

Good to see he's already focusing on the important issues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi-UaUUaDhc

everyone loves football there
Really, everyone?

i'm sure the majority of the country couldn't care less.

blast the mail on sunday and journalism in general into space please

not_goodwin woefully offtm, would estimate 70% of english-born residents at least claim to support a team + the national side

Claim being the key word here.

supporting a national side in a sport is the most faint expression of enthusiasm for said sport.

dude I bet you ten English pounds that the majority of English passport-holders care about the football team doing well

and that England cares more about football than any country except Brazil, Portugal and like I dunno um Spain maybe

possibly Argentina too but come on GET REAL as one might say - just because you don't like football, doesn't mean it's a minority thing

anyway can we focus some motherfucken hatred on the real enemy here: old-paper journalism

Don't think it's universally loved in Spain, certainly not the national side. Think you should've used Italy.

oh wait the Spanish are all goin' round claiming their provinces deserve autonomy

some of spain's provinces are as much provinces of spain as scotland is a province of england tbh

L' única lluita que es perd ... és la que s'abandona !

srsly just let there be Basque - no more ETA bombings and Mikel Arteta might play an official international match!

steal some of France and they'd have a half-decent rugby team too

once went to a JERC (youth wing of left-wing pro-independence political party) rally by mistake. Talked to a nice Catalan dude about Celtic, had a hot dog and drank a vodka coke that was about 70% vodka, as is the wont in spain. very classic would rally again.

actually haha the fact Andorra is allowed to exist and Basque country/Catalunya aren't is kinda mindblowing

maybe just create one big country called Batalunya that turns out to be the third-best football team in the world, even as Spain drops 20 places in the rankings

yeah that would pretty much fuck spain. athletic bilbao is the club that has produced the most spain internationalists iirc

jose etxeberria all returning to play in the first match aged 45, old people in the stands all wiping tears back

would estimate 70% of english-born residents at least claim to support a team + the national side

Probably need a Venn diagram here as there's a fair few who are pathologically ardent wrt a club side and couldn't really give a stuff about the national team (me, for example). I'm sort of disappointed when it goes wrong for England but 2-3 vs Croatia was a source of some glee and Edberg going out early in his final Wimbledon appearance a source of more sorrow than Southgate's penalty miss (same day, I think). I was definitely an England fan as a kid and my interest perked up again in 2003-04 (Goodison Rooney), but...meh.

i think, and this is solely based on personal reflection on my own attitudes, is that not following your country's national team that closely may stem from the fact that every dilletante bastard, ne'erdowell, moron, drunk disgrace, newspaper, tv news bulletin etc. blaring at you about the national side just gets on your tits and turns you right off. this is based on the fact that i have a passing interest in the scottish national team but i'm half chilean and really take a huge interest in the chilean national side(only having been on holiday to chile a few times i've never had to put up with the hysteria that surrounds "la roja").

there might be something in that - my affection is probably peaking right now thanks to relative media inattention, plus the ne'er-do-wells that is the playing squad mostly having a couple of weeks out of the limelight

anyway can we focus some motherfucken hatred on the real enemy here: old-paper journalism

I had assumed Triesman must have done something wrong, now that I read the story properly it appears he was just having a conversation with a friend, and not a particularly outrageous conversation either. How's that a story? Really, really poor.

The Mail guide to journalism:

1. Help a mentally ill woman to betray a man's confidence;

2. Destroy that man's reputation based on 44 seconds of one conversation - with no explanation of context, naturally;

3. Write reams of irrelevant sexual rubbish to pad the story;

4. Crowbar in unflattering mentions of Labour and the BBC.

- Steve Brookes, Southampton, 17/5/2010 01:30

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278706/FA-chief-Lord-Triesman-Spain-bid-bribe-World-Cup-referees.html#ixzz0o8yTLY4k

really, really unbelievable and I hope the Mail gets fucking bombed by freedom-fighter yobs

the comments are 99.99% anti-mail. It's great fun reading them actually.

but I'll never understand why they set all this up and ran with it. If a scottish paper did this to a scotland bid then i'd be furious and wanting them strung up. Why did they do this?

to sell papers to fuckwits

infact it couldnt happen because if a scottish paper did this they would be bust within a month because noone would ever buy it again.

can't really agree with you all about this: private opinions of public figures are of interest if you can find them out. triesman's obviously got beef with his bit on the side for betraying him, but bleating "context" is the first resort of the bullshitter. if that was out of context, the fa wouldn't have had to apologise (by fax, nice detail). so the substantive story is true: triesman said england's rivals were corrupt, and can't back it up, is true. nice of steve brookes there to smear the source as "mentally ill" because she says she's ocd though, way to take the high ground.

anyway can we focus some motherfucken hatred on the real enemy here: old-paper journalism

― coalition to me (acoleuthic), Sunday, 16 May 2010 21:10 (Yesterday) Bookmark

lots of good journalism is about gaining people's confidence so they'll betray other people's. aren't you training to do this?

i'm finishing my MA so as not to be 100% unemployable but i'm doing absolutely nothing in the line of old media after i quit, that's a fucking promise

this is one of the reasons i fucking deplore the very thing i'm studying - so much of it requires you to be a cunt sans humanity or decency or sportsmanship

new media's the same. finding stuff out that people don't want you to find out involves someone breaking a confidence. everything else is press releases.

RIP

"Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible."

but srsly, what's the outrage here? in the litany of media abuses this is nothing.

I know, I'm just coming nicely to the boil about journalism around now, and this shit doesn't help. It's just so...unnecessary. Doesn't need reporting. Can only do harm.

If it causes the bid to fail it should stand as some totem of English media standards and why the papers need to be eradicated ASAP before they can ruin fucking everything

if the chair of the fa has in private, without justification, accused rivals of being corrupt, and you can prove it... how can that not need reporting? if you start thinking about outcomes too much, that's politics not journalism. what cause are the mail supposed to be helping here - england's world cup bid? how about ensuring the fa chairman isn't a loudmouth conspiracy theorist dickhead?

as the hudsucker proxy had it, the only two questions are: is it interesting? is it true? (admittedly standards slip on the latter sometimes.)

(and the former, on other occasions.)

in private

These are the key words in your post. He spoke off the record. Sure he was dickish but he didn't speak in his capacity as FA chairman. He spoke as a guy mouthing off in private. So, more of a quietmouth conspiracy theorist dickhead. Who knows what the other bids are saying in private? Sure, he got caught, but he got caught due to a quite staggeringly crass bit of subterfuge. Fuck the DM for this.

"off the record" is a convention between journalists and their sources, not bigwigs and their "friends". i think triedsman is entitled to feel utterly betrayed by his mistress, although, really, there's no fool like an old fool, but unless you think the mail on sunday is supposed to be a booster for england 2018 i can't see what they've done that's wrong. like i say, the private thoughts of public figures are of interest.

but i should say, the cure for bad journalism isn't good people turning away from it as a career, it's people coming in and doing it better. so, chin up.

that is a nice thing to say! well i hope that i do, if that is to be how it goes.

the private thoughts of public figures may be of interest to some but a) how publicly-known WAS triesman and b) i don't see how this is particularly interesting in any constructive sense. the DM is not supposed to be a booster for 2018 but it has acted very cheaply IMO and has done so in a manner i can only construe as malicious - especially wrt how the quote was acquired

Could be my favourite DM comment ever:

Well done the Mail on Sunday, with your story on Lord Triesman

Cruel way to
Undermine a
Noble effort to
Try and bring the greatest
Sporting event ever to England.

- Dave Peckham, Wembley, London, 16/5/2010 20:21
Rating 83

that is a nice thing to say! well i hope that i do, if that is to be how it goes.

Forget trying to change the whole media, start small: you should try and do a more principled take on the "loose-tongued sex blogger with daddy issues" career path.

fuck 'off the record' tbh. nobody should ever feel safe.

Is it possible to be suggest-banned from journalism? xpost

nobody should ever feel safe.

"ahhhh that's completely unfair!" /fathertoddunctious

This isn't very surprising really, the Mail unlike most of the other papers hates football, footballers and football fans. They seem to cover it because they have to, rather than because they want to, and I suspect that the idea of the World Cup coming to England is Paul Dacre's personal worst nightmare.

I'd imagine that the bid will come down to which one will make FIFA the most money, especially important after South Africa. So England 2018 followed by USA 2022?

nobody should ever feel safe

That's cold. I think that in a one-to-one conversation with a friend who has nothing to do with your work, which conversation has nothing to do with your work, you are entitled to feel safe. The only thing that made this a story was the Mail reporting it.

I'd imagine that the bid will come down to which one will makegive FIFA the most money

Fixed, and now to resign...

the Mail did a big "expose" of alleged corruption undermining Germany's WC bid for 2006 when they were up against England years ago. Was BS.

think Russia's biggest problem wrt hosting must be infrastructural issues.

Russia's corruption industry is worth more than the GDP of Denmark, think Triesman picked the wrong target there.

Plus people in glass houses...

Former England captain Bryan Robson believes World Cup managers could struggle against the noise of the South African plastic trumpet, the vuvuzela.

It's not just the Mail who can bring hard-hitting investigative journalism about the major issues affecting world football.

I hope they've got a quote from Terry Venables to back that up

The Telegraph unsurprisingly laying into Triesman etc over 4 pages of vitriolic panic without once questioning the DM

I mean the issue here is mostly that my parents are buying the Telegraph now, but still, come the fuck on

Why, what did they buy before?

nobody should ever feel safe

i may not have meant this 100%, but really cliches aside there's no fool like an old fool, and now more than ever he really should be keeping his nose on the safe side of squeaky clean.

Yeah I know, but short of being 'on' all the time there's not much more the guy can do. I mean, he didn't even make the allegation outright.

they mostly seemed to get the other four main 'broadsheets' - maybe it's a cycle, maybe they're all so terrible they're getting the one they haven't seen much of

but I've said they should get the FT from now on - wonder if they'll listen

uh the other THREE main 'broadsheets'

You can always rest assured that there's no danger of the FT ever drifting to the right ay

it strikes me as being the Radio Four of newspapers, except the good (if a little obscure) bits of Radio Four, whereas the tacky loudmouth bollocks of Radio Four are much more like a Guardian supplement

[/pinefox]

I assume they also take Astronomy Now

I only got to write for the online publication :(

habitually read the sunday times cover to cover myself, but then it's the only reasonable quality sunday read we can get tbh.

Er, anyway, does Europe (or David Cameron's England) realllllly need the World Cup in 2018?

Ah, that's assuming it's still David Cameron's England in 2018

Sorry, George Osborne's England.

Yeah it's like fuckin 2018 man, presumably by then Cameron will have been run over by a floating space car and replaced as PM by Farfisa-Cummerbund Geldof

another tory govt? surely not.

No, that's the "New Look Labour Party".

tories will be kicking themselves if they miss that trick again tbh

We're all Tories now.

Ah, that's assuming it's still David Cameron's England in 2018

Might not be David Cameron's Britain but still likely to be David Cameron's England

Would rather Capello stayed on tbh

Immigration cap will put an end to that

good luck england with your useless native born managers

Stuart Pearce's time will come again

MOTY

Redknapp got next

No shortage of contenders then, send Johnny Foreigner back with this tail between his legs, can't be doin' with all this success and winnin', bad show

After winning the Bundesliga in 2012, Serie A in 2014 and La Liga with Barca in 2016 expect The Wally with the Brolly to make a triumphant return to win the world cup for England in 2018.

La Liga with Real Madrid, blates

I'll be 50 in 2018, ffs. I kinda wish people would stop talking about it. As for 2022, my kids will be taking GCSEs and A-levels. Blimey.

"The story itself, the circumstances surrounding it and the actions of the Mail on Sunday in publishing it have undermined the bid to bring the World Cup to England in 2018," Lineker said.

"I wholeheartedly support the bid, because I believe that hosting the tournament would be brilliant for the country, and I am an official ambassador for it. I have therefore taken the view that I cannot continue as a columnist for the Mail on Sunday."

gary lineker does the decent thing!!

shocka

Good work there Gary.

?

oh fair fucks to him.

Ooh, I wonder if *that*'ll be on the front of the Daily Mail tomorrow.

It should be, it's a follow up part of the story isn't it?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/08/michael-dawson-england-world-cup

'it's scary how good the England players are'

now we know what he meant.

Nick Clegg hails England's 'unbeatable' World Cup bid

Only the names change. Except here's one that doesn't:

the president of the Chilean football federation, Harold Mayne-Nicholls

No mention of history's least-surprising corruption scandal?

Supporters of England's bid are concerned that the claims may rebound on them if Fifa members are unhappy the expose emanated from the English press ...

Blatter's gonna sort it out: "I'm disappointed with what I have read but you can't say the system is bad. They have created a scam, a trap, tempting people to do something wrong and it's up to the Fifa ethics committee to make their recommendation."

Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee

Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee
Fifa ethics committee

FIFA row has 'harmed' England 2018 World Cup bid

The Fifa president Sepp Blatter signalled the start of a backlash against the British media last Friday when he said: "One can ask whether such an action is appropriate, trying to set traps for people. It is a deeply rooted problem [with the English media]. "Who is benefitting from this situation and who is being harmed, we are asking ourselves why did it happen and why did it happen specifically by English journalists? We are looking at that."

And the head of the Asian Football Confederation, Mohamed Bin Hammam, has used his blog to attack the British media. He wrote: "Is it ethical to use unethical methods to protect the ethic? How will we clean dirty laundry by using dirty water?"

and this is just pathetic:

One move being considered by England's bid is to ask all the editors of the national newspapers and broadcasters to write to Fifa declaring their support for the 2018 bid

Is it ethical to use unethical methods to protect the ethic? How will we clean dirty laundry by using dirty water?"

nice rhetorical flourish....

England 2018 bid 'not even in the running'.

dubious, but as sure as FIFA is corrupt and badly run the press will be intrusive so they should just come out and say England will never get a World Cup unless both sides fix up on a massive scale.

this tho

"If the papers have the moral high ground and believe it is their right to investigate, then fine, but why didn't they take their findings to FIFA first, let them act, and then report it? The evidence should have been handed over to FIFA first."

please...

It seems barely worth speculating when the electorate is so tiny, but this is going to Russia I think. Which means I'll hit fifty before England sees a world cup again.

The World Cup may not be coming to England, but the Dignity Cup certainly will be

Leaders of England's 2018 World Cup bid have written to Fifa distancing themselves from corruption allegations made against football's world governing body by the British media.

This whole process is disgusting, and an insult to anyone decent who likes football. The idea that the birders have to apologise for legitimate media investigations really shows what a tinpot crooked gang of cronies FIFA is.

What is the point of this lengthy wooing profess? It's as if FIFA are pagan gods that need sacrifices at every juncture. Isn't it quite simple to decide who can host a World Cup?

It is massively unfair if they deny England this...

as long as Quatar doesn't win i'm happy. i don't see why Spain needs Portugal though, i almost think they would have had more chance when running alone, surely they got enough stadiums...

end result will probably be Russia/Australia or England/Australia, whatever English media might say.

Dutch media going for 'no chance at all' underdog strategy. which is probably realistic.

The US bid seems a bit half-assed and it's far too soon to go back to Japan or Korea, so Australia would be pretty cool I reckon. Aren't there only, like, five towns in the whole county though?

It's cool, we can host games in Geelong.

Australian World Cup would be the worst thing ever. Totally not down with the idea of games being played at 3am.

Australia's World Cup Motto is gonna be "harden the fuck up, Europe".

If I can cope with 3am kick-offs for the last two World Cups, you can too!

That's the sacrifice you make for living in a stupid place, don't make the rest of the world suffer for it.

One Billion Chinese fans would be down with Australia 2022 imo.

^^^ not as important as 10 million entitled Englishers

Would v. much enjoy an Australian World Cup, could attempt to go four weeks without sleeping.

Japan and South Korea was better when I went over to Cyprus during it - the two hour time-difference from here meant games at 9.30 and 12.30, so excellent for morning in pub until lunchtime and still rest of day to not watch football and not having to get up stupid early.

ah come on let's not be silly here, obviously football isn't important at all in places where people actually like it already.

Japan and South Korea was great, I approve of watching football over breakfast. Most of the football wasn't great, mind.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dc/Aus18-22bidlogo.jpg/220px-Aus18-22bidlogo.jpg

Australia's bid does seem equally half-assed now I look more closely - you haven't even decided where to have the final ffs. I do like the list of rejected venues though - Adelaide pitch 177x145m, Brisbane 171x150, somewhere called Wollongong can't build a new stand because a beach is in the way. These seem like good, honest problems to have, none of this FIFA politicking rubbish.

My support is now largely predicated on the logo spilling out of the box, and also because the animal figures appear to be going for headers rather than lame kicks, which is unusual. Reminds me a little of Andy Carroll taking on the Arsenal defence.

That World Cup was good imo, at least it was surprising (rigged.) x-post

THat kangaroo in the logo... at first I thought it was a T-rex trying to eat the football. Makes Australian bid attractive. However, do not want games in the middle of the night. And disappointed that it's "just" a kangaroo.

by 2022 i'm sure the internet will be creative enough that we can watch it in our dreams and wake up wanting a mastercard and coke.

inspectors 'concerned' over hotels and training grounds in england

What's wrong with the hotels? Travelodge is plenty good enough for your average punter. Or do they mean they're in the huff that Lord Coe didn't personally leave a mint on their opulent, cygnet-feathered, silk-swathed pillows?

eh,

just announced that they're top of the list so no worries i guess. kinda like how teachers wont ever give you 100%

Australia's bid does seem equally half-assed now I look more closely - you haven't even decided where to have the final ffs.

It's going to be in Melbourne but we don't want a butthurt Sydney derailing everything before we win it, y'know.

aussies dont fancy the northern hei weather if the rugby im watchin anything to go by

Cleared of corruption, but fined and suspended for a year. Amazing.

^only in FIFA

Mark Lawrenson, aged 53, on Football Focus just now: "If we don't get the 2018 World Cup, I don't think we'll see it back here in my lifetime."

Maybe he plans to do a Richey Edwards off the Severn bridge before he's 65.

How do you mean? Are they going to be given it in 2022 if they don't get in 2018? I thought they'd abandoned their 2022 bid.

Maybe he's got a Jill Dando style stalker and he spends every waking moment in fear his life may very swiftly come to an end.

I'll be 50 at the time of the 2026 mundial, which is obviously the next decision to be made - a bit sobering, measuring one's mortality in terms of world cup bids.

2022 bid has been abandoned, yes. Whatever channel I was streaming for Crawley-Swindon last night had '2022 decision: 6 days to go' permanently displayed in the corner - nice to see that race has piqued at least someone's interest.

Anyway, what's this 'we' to which Lawro refers?

Every waking moment he lives in fear of boring himself to death (xxxp)

Anyone watching this? They're doing about as well as they can.

Russian odds drifting, lots of speculation that it'll come to a vote off between the Iberian & English bids. England were 4/1 yesterday and are now odds-on.

From Paul in Christchurch, via text: "Watching this with a lump in my throat! Come on Fifa, give it to us!"

Come on FIFA, Paul has to go get a lump removed!

xpost

How much of that is mug punter money tho?

From Rob in Rotherham, via text: "Wow that was passionate from Becks, almost tears in my eyes. Come on England... Come on Fifa!"

;_;

poor Rob

I'm sure a good chunk of it is mug punter money, but it's a huge shift from a few weeks ago (then again maybe no money was going on it then as it wasn't in all the papers).

I don't think much money is involved, betwise - the 2022 odds have been all over the place

From Lukas, via text: "Netherlands/Belgium - pure comedy. Spain/Portugal - drab, boring and nervous. Come on England, the only serious contender - let's do it again!!!"

Amazes me how naive people are that they think these final presentations have any bearing whatsoever on the result - like some guy's sitting there with a £500,000 backhander from the Russians but is so moved by Beckham that he'll change his mind.

Patriots are morons tho.

why dont william just decree it be in england? Start a war of succession kind of thing.

Surprised Sky hasn't started a breakaway tournament already tbh.

Prince William, David Beckham and David Cameron = easiest game of shag, marry kill ever?

haa

lololol

Gerrard didn't look too happy at having to say "United" in that presentation

LOLLLL, when is this being announced anyway?

any hour now

3pm i think

HE'S READY

http://www.smallfilms.co.uk/bagpuss/bagpuss.jpg

http://www.theotherrussia.org/images/bribe-taking-kgat-jnews-co-il.jpg

HE'S READY

IT'S READY

http://www.nufcblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/plymouth-home-park.jpg

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/covtelegraph/apr2009/3/5/video-still-from-the-coventry-and-leicester-football-riot-887140040.jpg

THEY'RE BANNED

Majority of people phoning in on the radio saying we don't deserve it, i agree.

I think it should go to the country that wins it, even if it means going to the same country continually until someone else wins it.

That should make 'em try a little harder?

what's 'don't deserve it' based on?

English self-deprecation

nobody does it better

matt_farrington on Twitter: "Sitting here in my living room in Brisbane, Australia, barely able to contain myself. This could change my country forever."

what a disaster for bbc liveblogging

main reason i wouldn't want us to get it is so that there's no reflected glory for cunteron and clegg

otoh batman putin still makes them look like jon and edward

oh man I really don't want those fuckers to get it

I think it should go to the country that wins it, even if it means going to the same country continually until someone else wins it.

That should make 'em try a little harder?

― not_goodwin, Thursday, 2 December 2010 13:59 (10 minutes ago)

look forward to seeing you on ILF!

<3 lil vladipoot

beneath the gruff exterior is a spritely humour and passion for social justice

you spelt "brutal vigilante" wrong

Think Russia will have tried too hard on the whole bribery thing, Spain and Portugal are the cuddly face of political corruption and should win it.

i dunno if this will rly reflect that well on clegron

they'll be gone in 2k18 anyway

don't want reflected glory for PM McKeith

I wd still love us to have the WC, but you know those fuckers will try and milk it in the same way that NoLab milked the Olympics win

look forward to seeing you on ILF!

― gospermaban sim gishel (acoleuthic), Thursday, 2 December 2010 14:12 (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

I love fishing?

World Cup win + Olympics + Royal Wedding = really blowing their feelgood factor load early in a five-year parliament. They'll need to defeat some aliens or something in 2014.

believe their immigration policy already covers that

banking a lot on there NOT being a devastating inverse displacement of the Earth's crust in about 18 months, frankly

2012 Olympics, 2014 Commonwealths, 2018 WC - anything the UK can have in 2016 at all just to fill up the whole decade?

royal wedding only appeals to fully converted tory scum rite

The attendant bank holiday appeals to me, but I am a workshy drifter.

well, yeah, but that's not going to add to the greater glory of clegron

royal wedding only appeals to fully converted tory scum rite

Rong, it's all about the closet cases.

Wanna see how pathetic 95 percent of NewNoLab MPs are, stick 'em next to some minor scion of royalty.

Also Stephen fucking Fry.

from graun: more details of Angel Maria Villar's words during the Spain/Portugal presentation: "You are all hard working, honest individuals. FIFA is an honest, hard working organisation which cares about football. Anything "anybody else" says or might say about this not being the case is a lie."

yeah no

Did he do the quote-fingers when saying "anybody else" ?

Christ this buildup is tedious...

That poor crowd of schoolkids freezing their nads off outside City Hall...

1505: The BBC understands that voting has now finished.

Okay, Russian and Spanish press not making a big deal of this, shouldn't be given the tournament imo

It looks warmer in Moscow than it is in London at the moment.

Swift fiver on Qatar then?

Why would collusion between bidders for two different tournaments be a problem?

people: stop making your kids stand out in the freezing fucking cold ffs

or at least let them throw snowballs at the presenters or sumthink

ok I want to not get this just to thwart Franchise

on a knife-edge about this

how long til these cunts announce winners

This coverage.

if it were possible to get it and then have england not qualify, that's the dream option

It is possible now.

Foreign media having actual news to report = England has won?

if it were possible to get it and then have england not qualify, that's the dream option

― rip whiney g weingarten 03/11 never forget (history mayne), Thursday, 2 December 2010 15:22 (18 seconds ago)

English bid team have that look about them that outgoing MPs get just before the receiving officer reads out the scores.

They changed it so the host doesn't qualify automatically I think.

spare a thought for all the ppl who took the day off work to follow the bbc's liveblog coverasge and got snowed in anyway ;_;

rumours of an early england exit

ppl confused thinking this is an actual football tournament?

xpost

hahahaha fuck those guys

Cameron will be out and 'arry will be PM by 2018.

how long til these cunts announce winners

Eh, I've watched England *matches* more boring than this.

Can't believe we will be ruled by a slaphead some day.

Wonder if he'll get a Phil Mitchell cut once it's too far gone to comb forward.

I spy Arshavin behind William.

Guy's a born leader let's face it xxxp
http://andrewcarr.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/prince-harry-nazi.jpg

Abramovich is looking pretty pleased with himself.

he's just signed Sturridge

is this thing on?

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/bidders/live/index.html

if it were possible to get it and then have england not qualify, that's the dream option

― rip whiney g weingarten 03/11 never forget (history mayne), Thursday, 2 December 2010 15:22 (18 seconds ago)

― nakhchivan, Thursday, December 2, 2010 9:22 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

Jonathan Pearce is convinced, looking at those faces, that they don't know.

Good comment. Well worth repeating.

xxpost

Just using the Beeb's feed

no surreeeeeeeeeeeender

don't believe the rumours

here we go

Were Brazil unopposed for 2014? I don't even remember it being announced

1526: The lights are being dimmed, and a film about previous World Cups is being shown in the auditorium.

they really know how to kick the arse out of this shit eh

We suck at bribery.

brazil won in 98 when ronaldo lost the final

should got bae involved xp

are we piggybacking 2022 on this thread too? /american

well FIFA is so why not?

lol spoilers bbc

thank fuck for this, i would've genuinely gone on a rampage and maybe turned into one of those people yelling about how THAT'S OUR TAX MONEY BEING WASTED if we'd had to host the stupid thing

Way to ruin the suspense, you morons

fucking Beeb, robbed by CHEATING FOREINGERS

First round?!

Even Capello did better than that

bid undermined by baldingness of future monarch.

haaaaaaaaaaa

why doesn't Blatter fucking die?

this is a sop to england rite 'inventors of football' etc

faustian pact iirc xp

jonathan pearce sounds like he's been bereaved

nah, he said Chinese were the inventors, we just gave it our passion for rules and class struggle

are we piggybacking 2022 on this thread too? /american

― fwiw: lol iirc sb'd u tbqh (dan m), Thursday, December 2, 2010 9:30 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

why not

wait how do you guys know already??

Zurich, the city of FIFA, the capital of international football, the massive cuntropolis of corruption...

they have access to a special british liveblog xp

sure the media won't get jingoistic in any way shape or form about this tragic CHEATING BY FOREINGERS

does this guy ever shut up

The BBC knows, somehow.

Sepp Blather

lol "what a pity". almost feel a bit sorry for england now.

Gary Linekar leaked the bad news.

This is going to end up in Holland and Belgium, right?

RIOT

RIOT IN THE STREETS

how is it gary lineker's got the scoop anyway - is this related to his big confession yesterday

That "what a pity" line was great.

rooney needs to bust in from the crowd and hit sepp with a steel chair

if the early rumours were true you might be looking at Qatar 2022 guyz

GIVE 2022 TO US YOU TERRIBLE BASTARDS

http://www.unionjackwear.co.uk/images/great%20britain%20bulldog.jpg

owned much?

FUCK THOSE GUYS

lol Arshavin can't even be bothered to stand up and celebrate

Russians' policy in dealing with journalists vindicated.

"arshavin... THERE HE IS... standing up?"

nah it's ok, I'm gonna support the Cypriot 2026 bid now

Putin's reverse-jinx worked.

this calls for a special arshruggin' 'shop

WE'D'VE WON THIS UNDER NOLABOUR

peter odemwingie was unavailable for comment.

http://www.top-footballer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/andrei-arshavin-picture.jpg

kinda into this, tbh. russia is just so ~weird~

Russia haven't hosted the WC before, right?

What a wonderful day for bribery.

Would love to see photo of Cameron now tbh.

I'll be a pensioner or dead by the time England get to host the World Cup.

russia team really do seem like they've known for fucking ages.

nah it's cool Africa will have succumbed to climate-change by 2026 it'll be ours by default

this isn't sport, sepp

Sepp Blatter is so vain, he had the trophy modelled on his own head.

unless there's a cheeky uruguay/paraguay joint bid

I hope all the African teams wont get too upset about being racially abused whilst participating.

Sepp pointing out that Australia isn't a country.

so looking forward to the spilling of bribery revelations btw :D

jesus sepp u fukkin blowhard

get the lead out

2022 is a fucking long way off, dunno why I'm so tense.

Sepp Blatter is so vain, he had the trophy modelled on his own head.

Now the bottom part makes sense. It's Sepp's neck-waddle.

my money's on australia. they're gonna pick two never-hosted nations, imo

lol wtf

lol

rip

O_O

You fucking dicks

what the hell is going on?

decision yet?

lol FIFA$

BAGSY FRONT ROW SEATS AT THE FLOATING STADIUM

most utter waste of money ever (in Qatar)

can live with Russia though, deserved a world cup at some point, big nation etc etc

guys it's ok! never too late to switch to cricket. second Ashes test in a few hours!

obv Qatar is a fucking way stupider call than Russia

dude i hate tests

FIFA you amazingly hilarious crooks

Qatar

11,000 km2
population: 1.6m

USA will win the WC in Qatar, write it down

most utter waste of money ever (in Qatar)

this is the thing that bums me the most. i mean, i know it's all bloated/corrupt/whatever, but ffs 1.5M people live in Qatar

xp

USA will win the WC in Qatar, write it down

― fwiw: lol iirc sb'd u tbqh (dan m), Thursday, December 2, 2010 9:46 AM (36 seconds ago) Bookmark

knucks

sweet uncorrupted cricket

did he say "rabbit world"

Qatar are building giant floating biospheres to handle this right?

this is the thing that bums me the most. i mean, i know it's all bloated/corrupt/whatever, but ffs 1.5M people live in Qatar

yeah, i mean why don't those sheiks do something useful with their money. i can think of a hundred things. like providing complete water infrastructure in entire Africa. lot better than useless air conditioned stadiums. jeeeez. ;_;

CATARRH MORELIKE

EN! JOY! YOUR!

http://bannerbreak.com/banners/6/159/129130493086385635.gif

am more gutted Arshavin didn't ssssh at the English delegation tbh

they're going to have a world cup in quatar?

now im lolling

Secretly quite happy it wasn't Australia.

I HOPE ALL THE OIL RUNS OUT YOU FUCKS

Cameron and News Int. are gonna bury the BBC now

Australia would have been awesome tho

lololol @ wiki:

Qatar Inexplicably will host The 2022 FIFA World Cup.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101119/ap_on_sp_so_ne/soc_fifa_wcup_bids_technical_reports

ZURICH – Soccer's governing body rated Qatar its riskiest option to organize a World Cup in 2018 or 2022.

According to evaluations of all nine bids published Friday, Qatar is deemed a "high" operational risk to host the monthlong tournament in 2022. Russia is rated a "medium" risk for 2018.

Equatorial Guinea 2026 bid team said to be 'quietly confident'

Qatar has the highest per-capita carbon dioxide emissions, at 55.5 metric tons per person in 2005.[21] This is almost double the next highest per-capita emitting country, which is Kuwait at 30.7 metric tons (2005) and they are three times those of the United States. Qatar had the highest per-capita carbon dioxide emissions for the past 18 years. These emissions are largely due to high rates of energy use in Qatar. Major uses of energy in Qatar include air conditioning, natural gas processing, water desalination and electricity production. Between 1995 and 2011 the electricity generating capacity of Qatar will have increased to six times the previous level. The fact that Qataris do not have to pay for either their water or electricity supplies is thought to contribute to their high rate of energy use. Despite being a desert state they are also one of the highest consumers of water per capita per day, using around 400 litres.[22]

just mindblowing how qatar could win this without even sending a prince

haha belgium/holland came higher than england

The laws of Qatar tolerate alcohol to a certain extent. However, the few bars and nightclubs in Qatar operate only in expensive hotels and clubs, much Distribution Company, the only importer and retailer for alcohol in Qatar. Under Qatar's Sharia, it is illegal to show alcohol or be drunk in public.

^^^^they've got 12 years to sort this out

The only thing cheering me up is imagining how the Bahrain and Abu Dhabi princes feel about their Formula One tracks right now

"Cameron and News Int. are gonna bury the BBC now"

Hard to see given that The Sunday Times came out with the first revelations.

Nah I'm sure it's just sour grapes and the middle of the fucking desert will be a perfect location for a major sporting event.

No wait, an unshaven, gutted Shearer has me over the moon too

Nah I'm sure it's just sour grapes and the middle of the fucking desert will be a perfect location for a major sporting event.

qatar already hosts the WTA year-end championships!

(total bust obv, moving to istanbul next year - you football barbarians can keep doha)

to buy alcohol in qatar you have to have a special license (only available to foreigners and rich people, obv) and you have to buy in quantity, like 24 cans at a time

(for home consumption, obv, not in clubs!)

did any of you actually genuinely want england to host it?

Can they advertise alcohol in Qatar? If not, that's going to go down well with potential sponsors.

xyzzzz you underestimate their idiocy/agenda

i am hopeful that all of this will kill football as a sport! i mean the level of negativity i'm seeing is such that i assume this can happen

Alexi Lalas: "The US should create salt powered cars to run Qatar out of business"

did any of you actually genuinely want england to host it?

Not too disappointed. Would've been fun, but would have been happy with Holland/Belgium or Spain/Portugal. Still it's been a glorious day for nations with huge oil wealth and massive inequality.

yes but their desalination plants xp

FACT: qatar were the worst-ranked indoor soccer team on Microprose Soccer. did FIFA just not know this somehow??? wtf.

xxxxxpost, absolutely, certainly more than the Olympics, which was mainly getting one over on the French.

Negativity is part and parcel of being a football supporter.

lex your trolling is srsly pathetic next to fifa's

it'll be interesting to see who'll handle the main feeds, given that Al-Jazeera's English world headquarters are in Qatar - they would presumably be the go-to news org for the Cup

although given that they haven't been able to update their homepage beyond a small ticker at the top... http://english.aljazeera.net/

I certainly was hoping the U.S. was going to get the 2022 bid. Probably would be my only chance to see a World Cup game in person.

In common with other Persian Gulf Arab countries, sponsorship laws exist in Qatar. These laws have been widely described as akin to modern-day slavery.[32] The sponsorship system (kafeel or kafala) exists throughout the GCC, apart from Bahrain, and means that a worker (not a tourist) may not enter the country without having a kafeel; cannot leave without the kafeel's permission (an exit permit must first be awarded by the sponsor, or kafeel); and the sponsor has the right to ban the employee from entering Qatar within 2–5 years of his first departure. Many sponsors do not allow the transfer of one employee to another sponsor. This does not apply to special sponsorship of a Qatar Financial Centre-sponsored worker where it is encouraged and regulated that sponsorship should be uninhibited and assistance should be given to allow for such transfers of sponsorship.

lol @ lex popping up in a thread of football supporters to bitch about how much he hates football, ffs

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/4205/worldcupx.png

lol

i'm not bitching, i'm really happy and relieved that i won't have to go on a killing spree, which would have been the case had britain won it

Should have send Prince Andrew instead of Prince William.

England, not Britain. Not that it matters that much, tbh.

Should have sent Prince Philip, obv.

We can send him now in retaliation.

Good luck kicking homophobia out of football in 2022, anyway.

or 2018 for that matter

Can't be too unhappy about Russia. Qatar, though, is such a stupid decision that it can't happen is what I still feel. Someone upthread suggested a Sky breakaway in jest, that would strike me as not entirely unlikely after this except that if you're in football it probably looks like a totally reasonable decision

How is it going to work, practically? How are players supposed to train, even if they do somehow manage to air condition every single stadium?

Still I have total faith that we'll do nothing to piss off the Middle East in the next 12 years and the tournament won't even remotely be a terrorist target.

One stadium and fifteen removable pitches is the way to go for Qatar. The fucking dicks.

On the plus side we won't have to look at any front-page photos of William, Cameron and Beckham with the words THREE LIONS written underneath them.

Picture of disappointed Shearer w/headline QUTTED instead pls

Qatar, though, is such a stupid decision that it can't happen is what I still feel.

yeah, for some reason this dull part of my brain is like "well, this will get sorted out somehow in the meantime"

http://imgur.com/P174X.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup

The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be the 22nd FIFA World Cup, an international football tournament that is scheduled to take place in 2022. It will be held in Qatar, which is a joke, as englands bid was clearly better and it will be the first World Cup in the Middle East but who cares.

'In addition to the substantial tourism Qatar will receive during this tournament, Qatar announced that all womens human rights will waived and any women caught drinking publicly will be subject to Qatar's jurisdiction'

God love Wikipedia

Tournament statistics
Best player David N'Gog

Cameron and News Int. are gonna bury the BBC now

but News Int owns The Times. The Times who forced the sackings of fifa officials a few weeks back.

it's still evolving, that wiki page.

It will also be the first world cup that was completely bought by greedy Qataris and also the first world cup that will be a joke.

All of the five stadium projects launched have been designed by German architect Albert Speer & Partners.[6]

ew

Let's not forget the 2021 Confederations Cup in all of this.

xp!

I initially thought this bit was a fake edit:

All of the five stadium projects launched have been designed by German architect Albert Speer & Partners.

But no:

Albert Speer (German pronunciation: [ˈʃpeːɐ̯]; born July 29, 1934 in Berlin) is a German architect and urban planner. He is son of the architect and Nazi Party official Albert Speer whom he hardly saw as a child.

wait what

xp ok that applies to both dan m and seandalai now

if I was Albert Speer's son I'd change my g-d name and not be an architect

confeds cup (which is a bit of a joke in itself) will presumably be held in qatar too

david cameron is a fathead cunt

fb friend says Assange should turn his attention to FIFA

more lolz: Eng secured 2 votes in the 1st round.

One of them from Eng.

That's even less than in 2006 (three)

@rioferdy5 Rio Ferdinand
Give us the World cup please Mr Blatter, I'll sort u free tickets 2 games I swear down!!
2 hours ago via ÜberTwitter

Talksport caller saying that the head of the BBC should be tried for treason.

English bewilderment at how they are thought of after international beauty contest still bringing the lulz (see also Eurovision)

england is never going to win anything again

sports personality of the year is whoever won the bowls

On the plus side we won't have to look at any front-page photos of William, Cameron and Beckham with the words THREE LIONS written underneath them.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 2 December 2010 16:25 (50 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OTOH Cameron, Osborne and Clegg THREE LIARS?

Ha - England still beat Australia (1 vote)

i am hopeful that all of this will kill football as a sport! i mean the level of negativity i'm seeing is such that i assume this can happen

― lex lex lex lex lex on the track BOW (lex pretend), Thursday, 2 December 2010 15:58 (1 hour ago)

yeah

def

I've gained a new level of respect for that guy

ha

ey!

fed

http://twitter.com/hipsterrunoff/status/10376548838281216

I've been confusing housemates all afternoon by going "fucking Qatar?" every ten minutes or so.

http://twitter.com/TheBig_Sam/status/10365996921520128

otm

Heard something about England not being able to host a tournament until 2030 at the earliest now. Is that the World Cup and European Championships, or can we bid for the Euros before then?

I'll be at least 51 years old when there's a World Cup in this country. That's ridiculously far ahead.

none of this changes that I'ma going to Brazil in 4 years

the euros can fuck themselves

why

generally better than world cups in the last decade

yeah but but

u just wanted to get in RHMT2K9

u need to capture the ~anger zeitgeist~

far too chill on this bitter eve

anyway it isn't abt the quality of the football - it's about the fact it's a world cup, the convocation of all continents, the global forum etc etc

antarctica '26 plz

i dunno

anyway it isn't abt the quality of the football - it's about the fact it's a world cup, the convocation of all continents, the global forum etc etc

advertising bonanza I THINK U MEAN

#politics

sall corrupt but knowing that u gotta play the game

england all 'we're not gonna cheat/dive/etc'

If anyone needs to gin up on Russia and football please read Football Dynamo by my old housemate Marc Bennetts. Mind just blown hearing him on R4.

ah fuck it, laurie penny otm, the world cup sucks

http://fabiusmaximus.files.wordpress.com/2006/11/20100625-kubler_ross.gif

What was the reaction after USA got given the WC in 94? (wiki says they were awarded it in 88) And was the reaction similar to the reaction that Qatar 2022 is getting now? USA 94 was pretty good, if memory serves.

guessing USA wasn't seen as quite such a risible, transparently corrupt award

none of this changes that I'ma going to Brazil in 4 years

― fwiw: lol iirc sb'd u tbqh (dan m), Thursday, December 2, 2010 11:33 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

cool man can i come

If anyone needs to gin up on Russia and football please read Football Dynamo by my old housemate Marc Bennetts. Mind just blown hearing him on R4.

He was interviewed in Moscow on BBC News earlier this afternoon too.

!!!!! My abiding memories of him are trying to cobble together fit clothing to be worn at his court appearance for nicking CDs; he was also dumped by female housemate for Epic Soundtracks. #ohlalal1990

guessing USA wasn't seen as quite such a risible, transparently corrupt award

― nakhchivan, Thursday, December 2, 2010 11:46 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

also, guessing that any controversy about the US getting the WC had more to do with americans not really liking soccer. whereas qatari enthusiasm for the game isn't what's being questioned here, it's the sheer mind-boggling wrongness of hosting a global tournament in a dinky country with no soccer teams, one stadium, temps in the 100s, a woeful human rights record*, and draconian laws regarding all the stuff that visiting sportsfans can reasonably be expected to do. not to mention the sheer disgusting wastefulness of it all**.

*the same could be said of virtually all of the potential hosting nations, it's true, but their/our abuses are a little more sub rosa. whereas the thousands of indentured servants in qatar are, like, right there

**again, could apply to any host nation that needed to beef up its infrastructure, its just that the qatari infrastructure literally does not exist in any way

cool man can i come

― BIG MUFFIN (gbx), Thursday, December 2, 2010 11:48 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

if everything works out it may be a honeymoon trip so idk

*the same could be said of virtually all of the potential hosting nations, it's true

not so - it's just Qatar and Russia

dude, i dunno, a honeymoon in brazil during the world cup would only lead to tears and second thoughts imo.

well, i was just pre-empting any morbsian style "but the US/England/Japan/Australia/whatever have engaged in all kinds of atrocities, even recently!" challoping.

Well done Obama, at least someone hasn't taken it gracefully

i don't even think you need to criticise the hosts from a political pov - logistical pov will do

nice to see qatar have qualified for the 2022 world cup. would be better to see roy keane as their manager for the tournament.

via my friend's brother's friend who is in doha right now:

People are going fucking crazy. Like riding on cars shooting in the air. insane.

I thought they'd changed it so the hosts don't qualify automatically any more?

i did too. unless someone with a sense of humour is playing with the 2022 wc wiki page.

daily mail running this helpful poll now

Do you blame the BBC for England losing the World Cup 2018 bid?
Yes37%
No63%
Thank you for voting

lex: russia and spain are two fucking racist footballing countries and it is a kick in the teeth to the likes of south africa - "we hate you but we took it to you guys this one time so we didnt look as racist as we are cos the pr people told us to."

as insufferable as much as the country would be if we got it, at least we wouldn't make banners calling black players monkeys. way lesser of two evils.

"We have had four bidders for 2018 and we can have only one winner. Three of the bidding associations must go home saying 'what a pity'. But they must say football is not only by winning but football is also a school of life where you learn to lose. That's not easy," said Blatter, under huge pressure following a series of scandals.

football is also a school of life where you learn to lose = new ILF description

^ he actually said "companies" then corrected himself to "associations" - anyone would think it was a business transaction rather than a sporting decision.

Do you blame the BBC for England losing the World Cup 2018 bid?
Yes37%
No63%
Thank you for voting

the daily mail of course were the first paper to have a go at fifa. Wankers.

I'm recalling the excited rumours through the afternoon that the presentation had pushed England over the edge. It wasn't that bad I thought.

(there's a non-racist, if slightly implausible, explanation for that banana banner btw - something like 'giving a banana' being a phrase for failure in Russian)

It's pretty clear that England never had a prayer. Northern Ireland should have a go next - it's about the size and population of Qatar.

Spain is a racist footballing country? Why? Cos some of the fans have used racist chants at games? Well some English fans riot at games, doesn't make England a rioting football country.

The only instances I can find of "to get a banana" = "to fail" are from people defending the bananas on the Odemwingie banner.

Quick!!! Caption this picture!!!!

http://media.onsugar.com/files/2010/12/48/3/192/1922398/83557f09b759f904_becks.jpg

"If you do not smoke this, then we have a problem."

Spain is a racist footballing country? Why? Cos some of the fans have used racist chants at games? Well some English fans riot at games, doesn't make England a rioting football country.

― Hey Christian, Poulsen Sugar On Me (pandemic), Thursday, 2 December 2010 18:57 (15 seconds ago)

yeah that's a bit overdone

madrid fans abused england's black players in 2004, samuel eto'o was abused by zaragoza tards in mid 00s

carlton cole was racially abused by milwall fans this year

can't compare spain to russia where zenit mgmt/fans refuse to sign black players according to their former manager

why would mgmt fans etc

England lost bid due to sartorial blunder. (Brown shoes with a black suit, nononono, also I don't think much of Beckham's tailor, that jacket falls all wrong. William should so his top button up and stop borrowing ties from his dad)

i think that shade of brown with black is fine

st petersburg love their revivalist psych pop & racism

The only instances I can find of "to get a banana" = "to fail" are from people defending the bananas on the Odemwingie banner

Hahaha oh no - someone delete my post quick lest I start getting cited for it too.

thanks max, good to have u on our side in these dark days

i think that shade of brown with black is fine

― max, Thursday, December 2, 2010 7:02 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

it's an arbitrary english rule, no brown shoes with a black suit

not based on style as such

the three Masqat tears?

(geographically incorrect)

i know the rule! its american too. i always thought it was about v dark brown (and navy) colors against black--when the shades are too close the difference looks ugly

so eliminating light brown/camel colored shoes, belts, etc. when you wear black suits is silly, brown and black together can be very fetching

btw williams really balding huh? do u guys think if he still had hair england woulda got the cup?

camel/black was std ish for all the nyc girls i went to college with

he got black bald

There is a terrible 'hanged, drawn and Qatared' gag to go with that photo, but I sure as shit haven't got it.

it's an arbitrary english rule, no brown shoes with a black suit

It's a greyish suit and his brogues are fine with it. The cut's a bit naff, though.

Maybe if everyone in England had been this angry at FIFA for the whole several decades they've been obviously bent as fuck, they wouldn't look like they just had sour grapes over England losing the bid now?

I wonder how the press will juggle the intuitive appeal of pointing out that FIFA are obviously bent as fuck with the existing impetus to criticse Panorama for pointing out that FIFA are obviously bent as fuck.

I also wonder how many of the inane sub-Roy of the Rovers chuckleheads spamming the BBC's inane sub-Roy of the Rovers chucklehead liveblog with "Yayy for the bid! Come on England! I am a student or work in a hospital!" messages and then subsequently feeling utterly crushed were also previously spamming the BBC's inane, sub-Roy of the Rovers chucklehead liveblog with messages to the effect of "What a thrilling night of Champions League action! This is the greatest tournament in all sport! I am a student or work in a hospital!"

England's history w/FIFA coming back to haunt it?

Maybe if everyone in England had been this angry at FIFA for the whole several decades they've been obviously bent as fuck, they wouldn't look like they just had sour grapes over England losing the bid now?

that wd include the tenure of england's 'upstanding' stanley rous as fifa head envelope receiver

ppl say he connived in various ways to ensure 1966 and all that

Maybe if everyone in England had been this angry at FIFA for the whole several decades they've been obviously bent as fuck, they wouldn't look like they just had sour grapes over England losing the bid now?

oh no people might think its sour grapes oh noooo

ppl say he connived in various ways to ensure 1966 and all that

I didn't have time to work this angle into my post because I am a student or work in a hospital.

i mean ppl who think that are clearly paying less attention than england have at fifa's long-term shenans

The specific British suit and footwear rule is 'no brown in Town'.

or for safety reasons "no brown in Town slow down".

though these days one is advised to wear brown in town so as to avoid being mistaken for a banker

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/photos/2009/feb09/qatarladies09/qatarladies093/gbQatarW30026.jpg

MarkBrighty Qatar will dismantle the stadiums and give them to developing countries post their W/Cup, great idea, only 600k population though!

inane sub-Roy of the Rovers chuckleheads showing more insight than BBC experts tbh

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/PressPoint/images/47749-olympic-image1.jpg

Qatar will dismantle the top tiers of stadiums, melt them down and build oil pipelines to neighbouring emirates

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/PressPoint/images/img1_51135.jpg

big human rights bro there

zidane looks like guardiola undergoing some sort of horrific bad lieutenant style emotional/physical/psychical collapse

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Dec/Week1/15844474.jpg

^don't suppose this helped last night

doubt it made any difference whatsoever

fifa and fa in corruption shocker, news at 10

qatar in having an actually p good logo shocker, actually :D

I'll see you all at Qatar '22, maybe we'll have a few beers...oh wait...

qatar in having an actually p good logo shocker, actually :D

http://eckiller.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/c1be8952c0-500x_avatar_papyrus.jpg

http://eckiller.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/c1be8952c0-500x_avatar_papyrus.jpg

You can drink in Qatar. xp.

MarkBrighty Qatar will dismantle the stadiums and give them to developing countries post their W/Cup, great idea, only 600k population though!

inane sub-Roy of the Rovers chuckleheads showing more insight than BBC experts tbh

There's some long-prophecied former Palace strike partnership yin and yang balance shit going on here, Brighty being chipper and trying to see the pros and fictional cons of the situation, Wrighty sitting in a darkened room, paralysed with rage and indecision over whether it is FIFA or the BBC who must be destroyed.

An ulterior motive to the 22 decision is that the Qatari FA supremo is supposedly Blatter's successor-in-waiting, which is fucking excellent news imo - a whole succession of random awards await, determined solely by office politics. And bribes.

what a disaster the wright/bright strike partnership was for nominative determinism ;_;

No way is that that gag's debut, but superb work still

People generally taking the news well

http://twitter.com/#!/search/%40SeppBlatter

good work onimo

i guess if ppl were really emotionally invested in england having the world cup they have a right to be upset

but they probably shouldn't have got so caught up in it

and they seem kinda reactionary/racist/stupid

yeah all x who think y are totally z

robm69 @SeppBlatter Fuck very much asshole shove the cup up your ass we r a super power anyway

# Image_normal hemmistry @SeppBlatter your a disgrace, u cunt 12 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone

The fix is in. I reckon David Cameron has been tipped off that England has got the 2018 World Cup and has decided to throw some energy behind the bid to create the impression that he’s pulled a rabbit out of the hat.

England’s victory would explain why Vladimir Putin has not showed up in Zurich. It’s like the GQ Man of the Year award – if a candidate doesn’t turn up, you know it’s because he’s been told that he hasn’t won.

In 1994, the United States hosted what is widely considered the most successful World Cup.

This line is in every NYTimes article about the bid process and presumably comes straight from the USA 2022 bid media pack. I didn't really pay much attention at the time but is this generally accepted to be the case?

it was great apart from the boring final

had the highest attendance, i think, which is probably where it comes from?

and the most goals per game i think?

and romario was shit hot

first one i remember too.

pretty sure that's in the press pack.

Yeah the big central thing of the USA bid (aside from "we r the world's second home diversity lolz") was that all the infrastructure is in place, there would be huge ticket sales/profits a la '94 but even moreso.

sales = profits = money for FIFA projects ≠ money for delegates' pockets

http://www.meetatthegate.com/component/option,com_author_book/title_id,1062/edition_id,240/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepp_Blatter#Honours

poll?

why not

When was the last time the cup was awarded to someone who had previously hosted? I'm not above saying that money/bribes could be an issue but perhaps FIFA's bribery leverage is greater with a new venue country.

2006 iirc

It's happened three times - Italia 90, France 98 and Germany 06. Mexico hosted twice but the second was as late replacement for Colombia 86 (the idea seems insane nowadays)

I say that but here we are, Qatar 2022

iirc USA and Germany were both kicked around as emergency replacements for South Africa back when everything was expected to be a disaster

(Brazil 2014 was unopposed, maybe the delegates were looking on today as deferred gravy)

anyway, would guess that bribery leverage is greatest with untransparent, corruption-riddled countries. Not sure which ones that'd be out of today's bidders

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Dec/Week1/15845514.jpg
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Dec/Week1/15845528.jpg
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Dec/Week1/15845486.jpg

does england have any newspapers that aren't total trash

Nah, it's good work, even if it'd've been a damn sight bolder if that was this morning's front pages instead. I wonder what 'Rio Fury At BBC Own Goal' is? That's possibly the only bum note there.

Ismael, when was the last time the cup was re-awarded to someone who'd first had it before the English finally started competing?

i mean i know we have fox news (cuz we cant read good) but i can't think of a single tabloid in america that actually even covers "news" that isn't celebrity gossip. new york post, maybe, but even it wouldn't barf up those mirror headlines

does england have any newspapers that aren't total trash

― BIG MUFFIN (gbx), Thursday, 2 December 2010 23:06 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

http://muddymatches.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/15/racing_post.jpg

the sun in blaming the bbc instead of its sister paper the times non-shocker. Its not like news int. would benefit from the BBC not existing.... right?

gbx you could try the daily & sunday sports. Much classier than the sun.

England only need two more failed bids to match Morocco's record of four (consecutive tho). Believe.

oh i'll stick with my american papers, thx. i guess since we do have fox news saying stuff, i'm used to the idea that the printed news is supposed to be more dignified. like, for real, "rotten to the core?" "medieval kingdom?"

yeah our tv news is way better than printed news.

because it is supposed to be impartial

Ismael, when was the last time the cup was re-awarded to someone who'd first had it before the English finally started competing?

I don't even understand this. I think the answer is France 98.

Morocco got quite close with their bids though xp, not really fair to compare with a tinpot nation like England.

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Dec/Week1/15845515.jpg/bmi_orig_img/15845515.jpg
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Dec/Week1/15845516.jpg

"rotten to the core" no shit half the world thinks this about russia. "medieval" might be a ref to the anti-homosexuality thing idk.

here's the real offensive shit
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1335107/WORLD-CUP-2018-Was-video-cost-The-English-presentation-screened-FIFA-delegates.html

Then there was the soundtrack - hardly Pavarotti, and certainly not Elgar. Instead, it was provided by a Ramsbottom rock band called Elbow, chosen despite the obvious connotations that would always be risked when the panel gave the Elbow to our bid. Someone remarked that the lead singer sounded as if he was yawning.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1335107/WORLD-CUP-2018-Was-video-cost-The-English-presentation-screened-FIFA-delegates.html#ixzz1703cBWac

Fuck I don't even need to read that thanks.

the comments are predictable daily mail

This country is dying because of its own generosity. Anyone can come here, be what they like, pray how they like, behave how they like.....no worries, the natives will pay, the natives will tolerate. It doesn't surprise me that our promotional video was full of foreigners; even if it had only been filmed in England it would still have been full of foreigners. Did I say this country was dying? yes, we had an Empire but it was largely taking good things to the world. We don't deserve what we are currently going through.

- Hetty Cavendish, London, 2/12/2010 21:05
Click to rate Rating +82

To be fair there was a lot of Nani in that video, I knew that was a mistake.

lol lex did u get elbow to sabotage the english bid?

if it had been a Scotland world cup bid there would have been plenty of nanny in it for sure!

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/supergran-400x300.jpg

Well, Scotland has now become a viable world cup host, being many times bigger than Qatar. Never mind that Uefa already laughed out the Scots bid for the 2012 euros.

not that kind of nanny, jamie.

http://jeanoram.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/hootenanny.jpg
?

It's rhyming slang..

tbh scotland has a recent feudal history, oil wealth, a difficult climate, few suitable stadiums and no good decent domestic football to speak of so it's gotta be a candidate for 2030

Up here some say "shows yer shereen" (Shereen Nanjiani)
xp

maybe 2030 will be a joint Eng/Scotland bid.

Joint Scotland/Faroes

england might've done better if they teamed up this time

do scotland have any fifa/uefa powerbrokers?

Scotland/Faroes/Norway

scotland used to actually. Is David Will still involved? he took over from ernie walker.

England should do a joint bid with the falkland islands just to piss everyone off.

with scotland involved gordon brown might've contributed too

he's better at the sort of bribes n threats machine politics than that mimsy cunt cameron

brown was involved though, til may at least anyway.

joint bids probably not happening again - maybe fifa just obliged the europeans doing it because seems like they were set on russia from the off so it didn't matter

mandelson would have got us the world cup

i think they decided from the off it was to be russia. clearly fifa want it to go to countries that haven't hosted it before. I feel sad for the fans in england, but relieved we wont have 8 years of media bullshit to put up with. (only scots will understand)

not even joking xp

he knows how these things get done

but a world cup in england with scotland wales n.ireland. rep of ireland qualifying coulda been amazing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/dec/02/world-cup-2018-fifa-england-bid
Conn OTM once again

I feel sad for the fans in england, but relieved we wont have 8 years of media bullshit to put up with. (only scots will understand)

― Algerian Goalkeeper, Thursday, 2 December 2010 23:57 (47 seconds ago)

i think most of english ilx will understand even more

the jingoism would be intolerable

fyi the 94 world cup is cited as 'the most successful world cup' because it was held in AMERICA THE MOST SUCCESSFUL COUNTRY

86 is cited as the BEST world cup while 06 made more dough iirc.

Really really wouldn't be surprised if this ends up like 86 and England take on russias failure. Their best stadiums are crumbling to bits, they have no infastructure and yet there is no 'oh let's help the poor Africans' awkward spirit behind it. Can see it totally ending up like the commonwealth games did this summer. But super racist.

Can't stop laughing at this. Feel sorry for Becks tho, having to hobnob with that pair of toffee nosed twats.

Expecting us to secede from FIFA within the next 10 days tbh

clearly fifa want it to go to countries that haven't hosted it before

Yeah, but the USA nearly got the vote for 2022.

Really really wouldn't be surprised if this ends up like 86 and England take on russias failure. Their best stadiums are crumbling to bits, they have no infastructure and yet there is no 'oh let's help the poor Africans' awkward spirit behind it. Can see it totally ending up like the commonwealth games did this summer.

Oh come on, this is complete bullshit. Since when was Russia a third world country?

At least they've got some money to spend over there though, eh?

I actually think secession could happen over this in a couple of years. It won't be just England though, it would be a joint action with US and others as a means of asserting governmental control over football. Announce withdrawal from FIFA as of 2018, with a new body to host its world cup in the US in 2022. Ideally Brazil would join in too in the run-up to 2014, then FIFA would be really screwed.

Not everyone is as easily butthurt as the English tho... in fact, I don't think anyone is

The US didn't nearly get the 2022 award at all. Qatar were only a vote shy in round one - it's only because nearly all the others had the QatarI bid as worst possible option that they didn't get it immediately round two opened.

Really really wouldn't be surprised if this ends up like 86 and England take on russias failure. Their best stadiums are crumbling to bits, they have no infastructure and yet there is no 'oh let's help the poor Africans' awkward spirit behind it. Can see it totally ending up like the commonwealth games did this summer.

Oh come on, this is complete bullshit. Since when was Russia a third world country?

― Matt DC, Friday, December 3, 2010 9:52 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

At least they've got some money to spend over there though, eh?

― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Friday, December 3, 2010 9:56 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

Putin Tells Abramovich to ‘Open Wallet’ for World Cup Stadiums

“We have a lot do to -- stadiums, airports, roads,” Putin said. “But this presents us with a challenge, and this is the advantage of our bid. It means the development of world football, but also the development of roads and transportation infrastructure for our country.

You see the problem with England's bid was that we were too developed.

Is it true that in the preamble to the announcement, Blatter said that football was invented in China? Calls to mind the old Louvin Brothers song, "Must You Throw Dirt In My Face?"

Blatter Is Real

Of course there is a huge amount of butthurt in the English response to this today, but the Qatar decision more than 2018 has shown up FIFA for the farcical, bent, undemocratic shithouse that it is, and one wonders how much longer democratic countries will be happy to let their biggest sport be governed by this kind of feudal patronage.

OTM. I think secession from FIFA is pie-in-the-sky bullshit though. But I've got to say, credit to the Sunday Times and Panorama for actually exposing this, rather than bending over backwards to accommodate them in the hope they might let us have a party if we ignore that whole corruption thing. The other side is the Ian Wright side, never forget that.

Secession is crazy talk, I just expect to hear it get talked about over the next week or so. Srsly tho the FA needs to start building bridges with other nations and campaigning for reform of FIFA. The IOC is the other obvious global example of sporting admin being used as a personal fiefdom. I think we're a long way off from getting a lot of the rest of the world to "like" us, but a more open, accountable democratic football admin ought to be within reach if the major football powers can be persuaded to bring pressure to bear.

Of course there is a huge amount of butthurt in the English response to this today, but the Qatar decision more than 2018 has shown up FIFA for the farcical, bent, undemocratic shithouse that it is, and one wonders how much longer democratic countries will be happy to let their biggest sport be governed by this kind of feudal patronage.

― absinthe of malithe (Noodle Vague), Friday, 3 December 2010 10:08 (12 minutes ago)

dresden 1945 of tbombs

shd add that our own FA is hardly an anarcho-syndicalist meritocracy, obv.

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1397/captsgekbf7916100711475nh7.jpg
http://www.payvand.com/news/08/aug/Iran-President-Qatar-Emir2.jpg

2022 sorted, or?

i don't know how fifa gets reformed

it's the sort of cloistered gereontocracy thats impermeable to outside influence

a parallel body, more corporate but less obviously corrupt, seems more likely

south africa was never really gonna be a disaster cuz whatever happens, fifa could say mandela etc, yr h8ing on africa/justice/freedom....but russia and qatar are going to be more difficult to sell as goodwill gestures

i don't know how RUSSIA gets reformed

it's the sort of cloistered PLUTOCRACY thats impermeable to outside influence

#insight

I actually don't mind about Russia that much. They're a footballing nation, they've got an improving team, and they're a massive country who have never hosted a World Cup before.

Qatar is obviously just ridic.

i meant 2026 up there, duh. a bad half-joke, ruined.

i like a lot about russia but obv it's gonna cause its embarassments

anything like 08's classic 'yo is it true saakashvili got sonned by putin in a nato beef' is going to cause problems, even threats of withdrawal [via 1980 olympics iirc]

It's hard to believe that Russia's bid was "better" than England's, but it's a fair enough decision in terms of the tournament.

Don't know how heavily Sky are exaggerating the "your media killed your bid" story. Suspect it's a partial truth in terms of its effect on the outcome, but we really shd think about working on the "FIFA can't carry on like this" angle in a way that's sympathetic to other big FAs.

u either get to go hot on heavy on 'corrupt fifa' in the runup, or u keep schtum outta realpolitiki at least until bidding is over

news corp in its infinite chutzpah gets different papers to do both

realpolitiki-taka

I dunno, I just see an alignment of the planets for secession here. Obama can lead as a cleaning-up-corruption/investing in jobs story for re-election, other uncorrupt potential bidders can actually get a fair go in future, actual football countries can weigh in before control of FIFA passes to the middle east entirely. There are no bidding processes to get in the way for eight years now.

Surely England Ireland has the necessary ebony and ivory bullshit to win the bid?

Obama doesn't care enough, and neither do the US electorate.

yeah, can't really see obama going in there and taking names

It's cost-free feelgood taking on corrupt foreigners, plus building a few shiny things, seems like a decent minor re-election story to me.

just paying any attention to soccer wd be a gift to the palintards

not gonna happen

Well that's the downside. He's gonna crush Palin so badly though, he should use the leeway to tear Blatter's head off.

The idea that Obama even knows what the acronym FIFA stands for is hilarious.

Football Is Fucking Awesome

kinda verging on self-deprecating coming from the international soccer body.

Fucking Football Is Awesome