Fair Play?

Without a Blackpool v United game today, I'm without the usual grist to write my weekly BeDeviled blog post. It's utterly unacceptable that Blackpool doesn't have under-soil heating, even if they're a “small” budget team. They should have used £300K of that £30M promotion money to work on the ground for christ’s sake. United could pay a price for this added fixture towards the end of the season, which is totally unfair. But, that's all there is to say here.

Well, now what?

With my free time, I wanted to add my thoughts to the discussion about the World Cup bids landing in Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022 respectively.

First, let me say I was gutted not to be attending the 2018 World Cup in England and 2022 in the US. And my immediate reaction to the selection was that the process was entirely corrupt – friggin' back-handed, corrupt and fois-gras-eating FIFA. I got texts from fellow American United supporters immediately expressing the same feelings: oil money won two World Cups.

However, once I calmed down, read some analysis from various sources, and watched people's reactions, my reason returned.

Now nobody knows exactly if there was total and rampant corruption. Could have been, but let's not assume that and look a bit closer at the reactions and possible views from the non-English-and-US camps.

Overall, the US delegation clearly expressed their disappointment and showed grace in congratulating the winners and expressing confidence in their ability to host the World Cup.

Conversely, you'll find nothing but pissing and moaning from the English, which infuriates me to no end, as someone that would love to attend a World Cup in England during my lifetime.

The English have done nothing BUT prove that they don't deserve the World Cup Finals anytime in the next quarter century. This comes from someone that people consider an Anglophile due to my penchant for British culture, largely developed by friendships with Brit Ex-pats, love of the EPL, and passion for United.

Plu-eeeze, dear Inger-landers, get a grip, for the love of God – I implore you. May the power of Christ compel you. May the power of Christ compel you.

First, you find everyone from Golden Balls to Andy Anson expressing that the English had “the best bid”, as Anson expressed to and was reported by the BBC:

"I still find it hard to understand what happened," he told a media conference in Zurich on Friday morning.

"When you have the best technical bid, fantastic inspection visits, the best economic report, and, from what people told us, the best presentation, it's quite hard to stomach that all that seemed to count for absolutely nothing.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush - individual members promised to vote for us and didn't clearly.
They are saying to us that our media killed us but I don't believe that for one minute, but that's what we are being told.”

"Russia did a lot of last-minute lobbying and votes appeared to switch at the last minute - we know some switched in the early hours of the morning."

First, how naïve can you be?!

This is politics, my friend. What people say and do are entirely different things. I absolutely know this and my job doesn't involve leading a country's bid for anything. These comments are bush league. And when Sepp Blatter praised the bid days before the announcement, you knew that was the kiss of death akin to a football team's board expressing every confidence in an under-fire manager.

Second, “best bid” by what criteria?

I've read the media accounts of leaked FIFA evaluations about the bids. I think England probably had the lowest-risk and greatest immediate-term financial gain. True enough. Safest, most reliably profitable bid. Well done.

But, that's not the ONLY criteria.

FIFA didn't buy the vision, which is sooo overlooked in most of the accounts I read from the UK. All I've read is anger, angst, and aggression.

As an American, I've been subject to countless conversations with English football fans for decades about being proud forebears of the beautiful game.

Fair enough. Something to be proud of without question. And, typically, the English, who don't know me, assume I know nothing of this fact because I'm an American. Wrong, you arrogant twit, I often think as I travel through Europe.

But it doesn't stop there. So, what's the English response to losing the bid?

Yep, we need FIFA reform.

You just can't make this up. You don't get your way, so let's revise the process. Grow up, England. You're acting like a pre-teen complaining to your parents that your younger siblings get preferential treatment. “It's not fair because...” hand-wringing isn't very becoming, m’boy.

Thus, as someone that desperately wants England to land a World Cup Finals, here are three entirely viable answers to the big question “Why not England?!”

First, the Olympics are coming to London in 2012. I know this isn't football, but in a grander sense of fairness, the English bid had this fact going against it.

Second, if you openly distain FIFA, don't be surprised if there's a backlash. Looking down your nose at the rest of the world's football cost you, mate. Or, in football-song-speak, “You're going down, you're going down, you're going down” cried football's governing body in unison.

And most important, the absolute arrogance and entitlement mentality was only accentuated by having Prince William and David Beckham lead the bid process under the auspices of “Bring HOME the World Cup 2018.”

Yes, you have the fans and facilities. Yes, it would make money. Yes, you're the “home” of the beautiful game.

But, would it grow the game's popularity?

How many Western European countries have already hosted the World Cup Finals?

The answers here are obvious, even to an English bid supporter.

Central to Russia's bid was clearly showing FIFA that history would be made by hosting the World Cup for the first time in an Eastern European country, one where the game’s popularity has room for growth – no matter how infuriating it is to see Roman Arkadyevich Abramovic celebrate winning the bid – grrrr, Chelski – you can at least gather the possibility that this bid could have been awarded without corruption. This is a contrasting vision to be fair.

Finally, as an American, I firmly believe we, arguably, have much more to complain about than the English.

Qatar?! Are you kidding me? When I first heard the news, I lost it.

Again, with some perspective, I can see the appeal of the Qatar bid's vision.

It's the first World Cup Finals in a Middle Eastern country. It'll be the most compact World Cup Finals in history, thereby allowing the world's cultures to mix at the finals as never before. It's eleven years away, thereby providing enough time to build the necessary infrastructure and stadiums. And, it promised charity – dismantling stadiums and rebuilding them in developing countries.

Based on these merits and the understanding they have the cash to deliver the goods, I can see the appeal. Yes, there's risk here, and the Qatar bid provided daring answers. Full credit to them. Again, FIFA wanted to roll the die and make history here.

Game, set, match: Qatar.

Thankfully, as an American, our bid team showed honest disappointment and enough class to congratulate the winner as well as express confidence in Qatar's ability to pull off their vision.

No calls for FIFA reform. No excessive angst. Who do you think will get a World Cup Finals next: US or England?!

England's childish behavior will be remembered for a long time by delegates. Football isn't coming home anytime soon, much to my chagrin.

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Back at you possibly after the Arsenal clash. Cheers.