Tonight:
5°c
Fifa vice-president unimpressed by England's World Cup bid
7 Oct 2009England does not have a divine right to host the World Cup and its bid for the 2018 competition has not wowed anyone yet, Fifa vice-president Jack Warner said today.
Mr Warner said there was "something wrong" with the bid and England had not yet given the judges "the raison d'etre" to support it.
England has everything needed for a successful bid, but the judges want to see "something innovative, something creative" rather than the "same old, same old" bids, he said.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Warner said: "If I were an Englishman today, I would not be happy at the progress that has been made to date. I don't think they have progressed as far as I would have liked.
"You name it, England have it. But yet they haven't been able to wow the guys who have to vote for them, then there is something wrong.
"England, in the eyes of my colleagues and me, does not have a divine right to host the World Cup."
He said England had the best Premier League in the world, the best football tradition in the world, the best football stadia in the world, and star players.
But he added: "If I had all these things, I am telling you, any country that wanted a World Cup bid would be far, far behind me. I don't know why this is not so in England."
He said FA chairman Lord Triesman, who is leading the bid, needed to step up and "be more visible".
Mr Warner added he will meet both Lord Triesman and Premier League chairman Sir David Richards within the next 24 hours and plans to tell them their shortcomings "in broad terms and in an open and candid way".
Reader views (14)
Dirk,
If Coe and his merry band had told the truth to either the public or the IOC we would never have got the games!
We are more than capable of hosting a football World Cup though, without conning the public into paying for it.
- Mark, South-East London, 08/10/2009 11:14
Report abuse
Funny, we are olympic worthy but not world cup worthy, the FIFA bias continues...
- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London, 08/10/2009 02:29
Report abuse
It is not hard to see why Fifa are finding it hard to support the English bid. The World Cup is not just about what happens on the pitch. Having been to the last two world cups, my best memories are of the friendly people, opposing fans parting together and the brilliant fanzones held in the towns. We have our work cut out to be friendly, i cannot see english fans hugging anyone and if we had fanzones they would probably be over commercialised. Still a lot of work to do then.
- Mr S.Port, London, 07/10/2009 21:24
Report abuse
Please do not bend over for that group of idiots that listern to Stepp Bladder or Mr Platini (A Mexican drink containing Bananas and Gin)think about it.
- Colin Stevens, USA, 07/10/2009 13:48
Report abuse
England do not need to host the World Cup to satisfy the ego's of FIFA delegates like Warner from countries with no football history whatsoever. The World Cup should be booted into touch by Europe and then then we can have a EUFA Nations tournament every two years. The World Cup is rubbish with a lot of loyal supporters having to travel to the back of beyond at great cost to watch matches. Keep football in Europe hosted by European countries and played by Europeans on quality pitches in normal atmospheric conditions. Kick the World Cup into touch
- Nick Holland, glasgow, 07/10/2009 12:43
Report abuse
Warner is only interested in himself, unfortunately he does carry a number of votes. Given his history, Blatter should have got rid of Warner years ago, but I guess he can't.
- Westl, Putney England, 07/10/2009 11:05
Report abuse
What is an official of Trinidad & Tobago doing occupying such a position of authority in FIFA? It's ridiculous.
- Paul, London, 07/10/2009 10:27
Report abuse
What is Jack Warner expecting? Pom pom girls at the presentation? The Queen and Gordon Brown doing the tango? Or perhaps a few freebies thrown in for the FIFA guys? The stadiums are there, the infrastructure is there, the organisational skills are there. This is a football tournament we are talking about not the Eurovision. But then when did FIFA and its bloated administrators ever get a big decision right
- Richard Micallef, Mgarr Malta, 07/10/2009 09:54
Report abuse
Perhaps they should put Gary Lineker in charge and give him shedloads of money to waste on the bid and wining and dining the judges, it worked with Seb Coe and the Olympics.
- Bob, Cheam, 07/10/2009 09:27
Report abuse
Does "raison d'etre" mean "bribe"?!
Or does he mean that the FA should pump out meaningless soundbites like the London Olympic team? Perhaps the FA should announce they will "host a Cup for a sustainable generation" (while tarmacking Hackney Marsh football pitches...)
- F Prefect, London, 07/10/2009 09:07
Report abuse
This man has always been critical and hated English football and wasn't a relative guilty of selling World cup tickets on the black market?
- Tojo, Hythe, Kent, 07/10/2009 09:04
Report abuse
Warner has always been jealous and hated English Football.Wasn't a relative guilty of selling illegal World Cup tickets.
- Tojo, Hythe, Kent, 07/10/2009 09:01
Report abuse
If getting the world cup means the FA have to suck up to Warner then it's not worth having.
You don't have to scratch around much to find out what sort of a man Jack Warner is and he's not someone this country should be trying to impress regardless of his power within FIFA.
- St, London, 07/10/2009 08:33
Report abuse
I am under the impression that FIFA like UEFA like to find any reason to criticise England football and support continental leagues. We have seen this in comments emanating from UEFA and FIFA in regard of the money in our game/transfers/TV rights, hooliganism in France/Germany/Italy when compared to England even the physical nature of the English game. I am afraid Mr Warner's comments do not surprise me (the could have been uttered by Sepp Blatter or Mr Platini) and just continue to show that the playing field is less than even.
- Coys Switz, switzerland, 07/10/2009 08:29
Report abuse
