World Cup 2018 Bid: English football at an all-time low

World Cup 2014 / Feizal Rahman / 31 October 2010 / 1 Comments

Golden boy of English football? Or greedy, over-rated, out-of-form mercenary?

"The lines between football, politics and business have long been blurred – inextricably linked to the billions in cash now gushing between the game’s global power bases. But when the Croxteth boy who’d play for free can hold the most famous club in the world to ransom, you know the sport has taken a wrong turn somewhere."

In the midst of contract negotaitions involving the flawed Wayne Rooney, Spanish supremacy in the Champions League and now further concerns over the 2018 World Cup bid, Feizal Rahman assesses just how low English football has sunk.

For someone who has returned to these shores following a two-month sojourn from all things football, there appears sufficient reason to believe that the English game is now going through some sort of mini-crisis. As if humiliation for the national side at the World Cup wasn't enough, now the pride and joy that is the Premier League looks to sit firmly in the shadow of La Liga.

Barcelona and Real Madrid presently sit at the head of the Champions League winner market at [4.6] and [4.9] respectively, with only English league leaders, Chelsea, close to challenging for favouritism at [5.2].

So while Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi tear it up in Spain, back in England, an embarrassingly out of form Wayne Rooney demands a 100 percent pay rise as he sits on the sideline and England World Cup captain, Steven Gerrard, languishes in the relegation zone. Not a single English player was shortlisted for this year's inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or award - only the second time in 15 years that a player from the national side has failed to feature in the governing body's shortlist, which this year has 23 candidates on it, bizarrely including Sunderland's Asamoah Gyan.

Perhaps then, it is with some mindful intent that attention this week has been somewhat refocused onto the increasingly heated battle for the right to host the 2018 World Cup. England is the current [1.94] favourite to win the FIFA Exceutive Committee's vote on 2 December, with Russia trading at [2.52].

The lines between football, politics and business have long been blurred - inextricably linked to the billions in cash now gushing between the game's global power bases. But when the Croxteth boy who'd play for free can hold the most famous club in the world to ransom, you know the sport has taken a wrong turn somewhere. With weeks before a potential return to action, not to mention the impressive form of Javier Hernandez, Wayne Rooney is out to [29.0] to be the Top Premier League Goalscorer.

And when the supposed guardians of the beautiful game morph into mudslinging electioneerers, there is scant hope for the future. Did the head of the Russian bid team, Alexei Sorokin, really raise any eyebrows when highlighting the high crime and alcohol consumption rate in London? Those who actually live in the capital would surely have just muttered, "Yeah, tell me about it".

Yet, the England bid team - along with certain media outlets who frequently fill their pages with alarming tales of Bacchanalian high streets - reacted as if Sorokin had defecated at the gates of Buckingham Palace. By acting like blabbermouth schoolchildren telling teacher, what good can possibly come to England's already damaged bid? Instead, there is a heavy stench of desperation and clear signs that despite our supposedly superior claim to be hosts, we actually need the World Cup more than Russia or any of the fellow bidders.

As with the 2012 Olympics, it's apparent there is an aim to paper over the considerable deficiencies we have within sport in this country. So on the one hand we promote ourselves as a nation of sporting greats while, on the other, our actual success on the field paints a very different picture.

The advent of the Premier League in 1992 gave the national game a fillip but it was only after the impact of Euro 1996 that English football was catapulted to the level of the Italian and Spanish leagues, with major foreign stars attracted by gleaming new stadiums and mouthwatering pay cheques. And it will be the lure of even more private money - able to attach itself to the World Cup brand - that the English FA will be praying for, particularly in light of the recent government cuts to the sporting budget.

With England's Golden Generation now exposed as nothing more than a Brass Bunch, there's little hope of sufficient emerging talent to form a team capable of challenging the Spanish, Germans and Dutch at the next few tournaments. England are [10.0] to win Euro 2012, having traded as low as [6.6] before their South Africa struggles. So as with 1966 - and this should be of no surprise to anyone - hosting the World Cup in 2018 may provide the nation's only possible chance of winning it.

Comments (1)

1. Anonymous | 01 November 2010

   What a load of moaning old drivel