A Rocket To Russia

And, still it continues. As reported yesterday, the British media has been blamed for England's failure to win the fight to host the 2018 World Cup, as the BBC faces a backlash from a bunch of numskulls on its website. Three hundred and eighty seven to be exact, according to the Daily Telegraph. That's the average attendance for a GM Vauxhall Conference match, incidentally. Just thought I'd mention that. Yesterday, Russia was named the host of the world football showpiece in 2018, beating England and joint bids from Spain and Portugal and The Netherlands and Belgium. England's campaign was dogged by controversy, including an unflattering expose in the Sunday Times and an edition of BBC's Panorama on Monday that alleged widespread corruption at football's governing body, FIFA. This was possibly best summed up by the Gruniad's headline, FIFA Sticks Together And Damns the British Media. According to BBC News, England 2018 bid chief executive Andy Anson claimed that FIFA president Sepp Blatter talked to members of the executive committee about the 'evil of the media' just prior to yesterday's vote. Anson said: 'I think that was unhelpful - the last thing those guys hear before they go and tick the box is the evil of the media. That is not helpful and actually inaccurate. I was told by someone who was in the room that that's the last thing they were told by Sepp Blatter. There was a final sum-up before they voted and I think it was at the beginning of that. That's not helpful to our cause.' Junji Ogura, from Japan's FIFA executive committee, praised the strength of England's bid, but said that the negative media coverage was a 'big influence' on the voters. 'I thought England was a very strong candidate. Their presentation was one of the best presentations,' he said. 'But I think there was a big influence from the BBC and the Sunday Times. These reports possibly influenced people. It made damage for some people.' Last night, the BBC website was 'inundated' with comments as some glakes blamed the timing of Panorama for England's failure in Zurich. Reports the Gruniad Morning Star. And the Sun, which produced a headline of BBC Ruined Our Bid Says Campaign Boss which managed not to mention the excellent journalistic scoop of their own sister paper, the Sunday Times' at all. The Daily Scum Mail, meanwhile, came up with an alternative scapegoat. And, a barely-concealed sickeningly racist one at that. If you're in the least bit disappointed that England didn't get their bid accepted, as yer Keith Telly Topping momentarily was yesterday afternoon, then do take a glance at this pox-ridden drivel - written by one Paul Harris - and a few of the bonehead numskull comments it attracted and, you know, celebrate. We might not have won the World Cup bid, dear blog reader but, Jesus, we're better than this. Harris, however, need not be all that despondent; after all, Russia has such a world class record of racial harmony and tolerance you'd've thought he'd be glad a country with a significant white supremacist faction had got the gig. Thankfully, at least, the Scum Mail employ one proper journalist - well, if you can call West Ham supporter Martin Samuels that. On a pinch, I suppose. His article on the subject was a bit more user-friendly: 'FIFA have given their two World Cups to the countries in which the press is most muzzled, most powerless, most murdered - certainly in Russia - and least able to question their masters. What sticks in the throat is that we knew all this, and still allowed ourselves to get sucked in. The correct response when meeting Jack Warner, the duplicitous, odious FIFA vice-president who has been allowed to rule the world from Trinidad and Tobago, is to summon the fraud squad, not shake him by the hand. We sent the Three Lions - David Beckham, David Cameron and Prince William - to Zurich but we may as well have sent the Three Stooges. The bid was doomed from the start because FIFA does not like the power and wealth of the English club game, and hates being questioned or criticised when it makes another self-serving or toothless decision. The shame for English football is not that the bid was lost but that it was lost as we tried to compete on their terms. We played FIFA's game; that horrible, schmoozing, lobbying, crawling, venal game, that we thought would grease us through the door. And it still wasn't enough.' A leaked e-mail sent by a BBC News executive told World Service journalists that 'reaction to the FIFA decision has become part of the story.' The executive also said that thousands of comments had poured in about the World Cup decision. 'Criticism of the BBC (and to some extent the Sunday Times) is part of that story and we should reflect that.' On Tuesday, the BBC defended its decision to air Panorama's corruption investigation so close to the vote, after the Football Association described it as an 'embarrassment' to the corporation. Given the events of yesterday, is it worth wondering if the Football Association, those noted appeasers of bullies and charlatans, have changed their collective minds?

Into The New

England missed out on the right to host the 2018 World Cup after football's governing body FIFA picked Russia to stage the event for the first time. Russia saw off rival bids from England, Spain and Portugal and the Netherlands and Belgium to win a secret ballot of FIFA's twenty two executive members in Zurich. None of whom are, obviously, corrupt. England hoped that Prince William, oily David Cameron and David Beckham would give them an advantage. Ultimately, however, all of their talking, hand-shaking and brown-tonguing, not to mention a budget of - reportedly - fifteen million quid spent on the bid, it all ended with England garnering a mere two votes. One of which came from their own representative. Meanwhile, Qatar was chosen to host the 2022 World Cup. And, to be honest, if we're talking about 'legacy,' one of FIFA's supposed main criteria in terms of developing the game internationally then those two are, on the face of it, pretty good choices. I'm sure both will put on good shows. Despite a bid described as 'excellent and remarkable' by FIFA president Sepp Blatter following Thursday's final presentations, the executive committee rejected sending the 2018 tournament to England for the first time since 1966. 'We'd heard a rumour two or three minutes before we'd sat down that we hadn't been successful,' said former Newcastle and England captain and BBC pundit Alan Shearer. 'We'd also heard we'd gone out in the first round. Congratulations to Russia - they had a fantastic bid. I thought the guys who got up and spoke for us were magnificent. They couldn't have done any more. At the end of the day, it hasn't been successful but you try your best. I was hoping that I might see a World Cup in my lifetime in England. I wasn't born in '66. It hurts but you have to congratulate the winners. Everyone was very happy and very confident with the bid we put in. We couldn't have done any more. It's disappointing. I'm a loss at what to say. I'm sure [Cameron, Beckham and William] will be as disappointed as the rest of us. Those guys have worked tirelessly. If we haven't got it this time, when are we ever going to get it after what those guys have done?' Eddie Afekafe, a community worker who grew up in Manchester, acted as compere for the presentation in what was regarded as an inspired move. He told how football gave him a chance - compared to his school friends, many of whom were stuck in gangs. 'England 2018 would change the lives of millions of people like me,' he said. Though England is blessed with a series of excellent stadia, good transport links and policing, it is thought a number of behind-the-scenes factors possibly went against England. The BBC's recent Panorama investigation - broadcast on Monday - accused three FIFA executive committee members of accepting 'corrupt' payments and alleged that FIFA vice-president Jack Warner - somebody with whom David Cameron was seemingly quite happy to schmooze like a good'un this week - had been accused of attempting to supply ticket touts. Michel Platini, president of European football's governing body UEFA, insisted that the documentary would not alter members' votes or wreck England's chances. But he did claim that the British media's arduous relationship with football's international governing body could jeopardise England's chances of success. African confederation president Issa Hayatou - whose vote England had high hopes of capturing - Brazil's Ricardo Terra Teixeira and Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay were all accused by Panorama of taking payments. England 2018 bid adviser Sir Keith Mills said: 'I think we're all gutted. We felt over the last eighteen months we had an outstanding bid. I think we had the best bid technically. I think our three lions did an outstanding job. You have to understand that FIFA's view of a host city is different to our own. Their message was today they want World Cups to go to developing countries. None of the mature countries in the world are being selected.' Ex-England striker BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker added: 'I'm obviously devastated along with the rest of the team. We put a lot of effort in and are going home empty handed. We gave it our best shot. We put in a strong bid and it was a great effort by the guys this morning. All you can do is wish Russia well and hope they have a really good World Cup. Always we've just said you don't know how you're doing and how you're going to do. It's so secret once they get in there and we'll never know to be honest. English football will carry on regardless. We're very strong in our country in terms of our league. It could have been a huge boost. It's a real shame we'll never get a chance to prove that. It's a slightly strange experience lobbying and entering the political world.' Qatar will host the 2022 competition after beating rival bid from Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. The FIFA executive committees' decision came as a surprise after the US and Australia bids had been highly-fancied (as, indeed, had Spain for 2018). Australia's bid fared even worse than England's getting just one vote. Of course, the Daily Scum Mail were quick off the mark in a tawdry and rather sickening bit of blame-apportioning. In addition to being spitefully racist, this article noted: 'Six FIFA officials were suspended last month following a Sunday Times investigations and on Monday BBC Panorama claimed three other FIFA members had taken bribes in the 1990s.' Interestingly the very next paragraph added: 'The bid also endured confusion as it's board constantly changed and was engulfed in a scandal in May when Lord Triesman was forced to quit after making unfounded allegations about Spain and Russia colluding to influence referees at the World Cup.' They failed, of course, to remind their readers exactly who it was that published these 'unfounded allegations' - the Scum Mail on Sunday. Hell hath no fury like a British tabloid who backed the wrong horse. Although, to be fair, if you want to see an even more thoroughly shameful and mendacious piece of scum journalism, check out this one. By the way, in an ironic twist whilst the bid decision was being revealed on Thursday afternoon on BBC2, ITV4 were busy showing From Russia With Love - one wonders if they had a tip-off in advance?

The loss of England's World Cup 2018 bid went down very badly with many English newspapers, with a lot of attention focused on the somewhat contrasting reasons for Russia being in the news. The Independent used a nice footballing cliché, A day of two halves, in a piece which contrasted Russia being chosen to host the tournament on the same day that its Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, was accused of corruption in the latest batch of Wikileaks revelations. Fifa bungs Russia the World Cup was the Sun's take on the same allegations. The Daily Scum Mail posed a question which, it alleged, every football fan would be asking: Was it a stitch-up? Which, genuinely, makes a change from 'How can we blame all this on asylum seekers ... or the BBC?' Downing Street, the Scum Mail continues, has 'done little to hide its anger' and suggested that David Cameron 'has no plans' to congratulate Vladimir Putin. Which, one is sure, the Butcher of Grozny will be absolutely devastated by. According to the Daily Mirror, the England camp are 'seething' at being 'betrayed' by what it calls 'dodgy voting.' Andy Anson, in particular, is widely quoted in several newspapers talking about alleged 'collusion.' Hang on, is this the same Andy Anson that was wittering on last week about the BBC being 'unpatriotic' for suggesting, essentially, the same thing? How very curious. The Times has a satellite picture showing arctic conditions over the UK. It sums all the big stories under one headline: Frozen out. Several columnists show they were not impressed with the high-powered team which went to Zurich for England - oily David Cameron, Prince William and David Beckham - and they leap to the defence of the British media in general. According to the Daily Scum Mail's resident gobshite Richard Littlejohn, 'the presence in Switzerland of this A-List triumvirate was the final depressing fusion of royalty, politics and celebrity.' Good God, I actually agree with something Littlejohn's said. It must be the End of Days. Simon Jenkins in the Gruniad Morning Star defended the honour of the British press after criticism of the BBC and the Sunday Times for exposing FIFA corruption. 'In this World Cup Sewer,' he wrote, 'we reptiles of British journalism hold our heads high.' But he says 'the grovelling of the Prime Minister and the second-in-line to the throne before this Zurich racket has been a national humiliation.' In Owen Gibson's piece in the same paper, he adds, along similar lines: 'What went wrong? Everything. The strategy to deliver Jack Warner, the controversial CONCACAF president who throughout the two‑year bidding process had successfully made England dance to his tune, failed. The visit to Trinidad by the former prime minister Gordon Brown, the overtures of his successor Cameron, the Beckham coaching clinics and the meetings with the future king all counted for nothing. Instead Warner, who had insisted that the BBC Panorama programme which accused him of arranging ticket touting would not affect his vote, and his two CONCACAF colleagues backed Russia. Senes Erzik, from Turkey, who England also thought they had in the bag, also deserted them. Nor was there sufficient support from the African delegates so actively courted by England in the hope that historical investment in football development and support for Hayatou's failed attempt to topple Blatter in 2002 would reap rewards.' Paul Joyce in the Express believed that the decision was 'to do with politics and slapping down a nation whose free press had dared to try to expose the stench of corruption.' The Daily Mirror praises the bid team and reserved its anger for 'any dimwits' thinking of blaming the BBC or the Sunday Times. They should remember that 'in Russia, critical journalists are murdered,' it says. A valid point, well made. 'The culprits for this most excruciating humiliation of football's motherland since England lost to the USA in Belo Horizonte sixty years ago were to be seen skulking in the ante-chambers of Zurich,' writes nasty curly-haired Little-Englander Jeff Powell in the Scum Mail. 'In the rodent-like rush to jump off the ship of blame, the incompetents in charge of our national game sought to hide the grotesque ineptitude of their bid to stage the 2018 World Cup behind the allegations broadcast by the BBC and published by the Sunday Times and our sister newspaper the Mail on Sunday. It is an excuse as feckless as the entire England campaign. Nor can they get away with crying foul at FIFA for dumping them bottom. After all, it was the same preening crew, who led the English public down a cul-de-sac of false hope, who were busy trying to ingratiate themselves with the executive committee who run the world game.' Jeez, I agree with that as well. Littlejohn and Jeff Powell in the same day. Just kill me now. In a wonderfully piss-taking piece in the Mirror, one of this blogger's favourite football journalists, Oliver Holt, makes a mock confession: 'I have been "unpatriotic." I wish to recant. It is a crass insult to FIFA to say that it is the greatest sporting body on the planet. It makes me feel sick to think that anyone in England could ever have put our 2018 bid at risk by being so insensitive as to suggest it. FIFA is so much more than that. It is the best-run, most farseeing, intuitively brilliant, environmentally friendly, sexual equality conscious, racially aware, daylight-saving, job-sharing, liberal, fertiliser-free, organically farmed, fair trade organisation of any sort, anywhere in the world. Under the leadership of the Dear Blatter, it cares little for profits and alliances with corporate partners who make soft drinks that fatten up kids and is concerned only with the good of the game. If every government was run with as much transparency and wisdom as FIFA, the world would be a better place.' Sarky bleeder! The Telegraph's excellent Henry Winter begins his article on the fiasco with: ''"We were stitched-up," confided a member of the England bid team. "The Prime Minister was stitched-up. He thought he had a number of votes locked down ..." FIFA's credibility was battered on Thursday, not by any allegations of corruption but by the cynical game of collusion and vote-trading that patently went on in FIFA House. All the fish are soiled.' According to Sporting Life, Anson suggested that FIFA members had 'lied' about their votes and the millions of quid spent on England's 'glowing' technical report was 'money down the drain.' Anson added: 'David Dein, myself, David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince William were looking people in the eye and asking them for their vote and being told "yeah." I am not sure what else you could do.' Err ... not believe them? Just a wild suggestion, there, you know. Everybody lies, ask Dr House. Asked if the England bid team had been lied to, he replied: 'I am not going to name names because that is not fair on individuals but clearly some people have. We thought we had more than six votes, perhaps seven or eight.' Sky Sports News sought out the sagacity of former England manager Graham Turnip Taylor: 'FIFA, for me, is full of people who say "yes" to your face and "no" behind your back. Their reputation has not changed for many years. [England] have little or no influence; we are considered to be arrogant and know-alls and FIFA don't have to answer to anyone. I think it is about time that FIFA were really investigated. Our journalists have been blamed for this – I don't get into that.' Still, bright side, it could have be far worse; down under after their own failed bid, the headline in the Sydney Morning Herald was Boot goes in over World Cup 'farce' which is bad enough, as you might imagine, but they're also getting a hiding in the cricket as well.