Bid chief executive admits future attempts will fail
Andy Anson has revealed Fifa's executive committee turned their back on England's 2018 World Cup bid because of the British media.
The chief executive of England's attempt to land the global showpiece was left stunned after defeat in the first round of voting when they gained a paltry two of the 22 ExCo votes, despite having been promised several more.
A clearly frustrated Anson, speaking at a press conference in Zurich shown live on Sky Sports News HD, went on to suggest that it would be pointless attempting to secure the tournament in future until the voting process is overhauled.
The lead up to the decision at Fifa's headquarters was overshadowed by a BBC Panorama programme which alleged corruption among members of world football's governing body, and a Sunday Times investigation into 'votes for sale'.
And while Anson does not lay any blame at the door of the media, the message he and his colleagues are getting from some of the 22 men who awarded the 2018 tournament to Russia is very different.
He said: "We have spoken to some executive committee members and they are saying to us that our media killed us.
"Now I don't believe that, I don't believe that for one minute, but that is what we are being told.
"I still find what happened hard to understand and hard to believe. We went to bed feeling confident we would get through the first round so to find out we only got two votes is tough.
"We had a formidable competitor in Russia, who knows how they were lobbying and what they were doing, but they clearly got people to vote for them.
"When Sepp Blatter came over to 10 Downing Street it was clearly what we thought was a good relationship with the Prime Minister. David Cameron, to his absolute credit, when things went wrong he could have just backed away, but he didn't."
Don't bother
And Anson insisted there would be absolutely no point attempting to land the World Cup in future unless the voting system, which places all the power in the hands of Fifa's 22 ExCo members, is changed.
He said: "I would say right now, don't bother until you know that the process is going to change to allow bids like ours to win.
"When you have the best technical bid, the fantastic inspection visit, the best economic report and, from what people told me yesterday, the best presentation, it is quite hard to stomach that that seems to count for absolutely nothing.
"Having 22 guys only voting gives them too much influence. When 22 people have the power to decide on the world's biggest sporting event that gives them a lot of power and every individual vote counts for so much.
"It makes it a very tough process and that is an issue. Fifa do need to look at that process because it makes it very easy for formidable competitors like Russia and Qatar to gain influence.
"If you look at bids like ours, like Australia, like the USA, we clearly are accountable, to the press, the public and the government. We have to do things in a straight and ethical way and I think all three of those bids will leave here with their heads held high knowing they did everything as they should do.
"I don't know what else happened, but clearly Russia and Qatar are formidable competitors."
Not quite right
Anson went on to criticise the decision to name the 2018 and 2022 hosts at the same time and believes that with so many nations involved in the process it was inevitable that votes were exchanged.
He added "Running two bids together was clearly a mistake because everyone who had a vote and a bid clearly wanted to trade that vote to help them get over the line in their particular campaign. That was a huge mistake in my mind.
"Australia had a very good bid, they got one vote. We had a very good bid, we got two votes. The USA had an unbelievably strong technical bid, they got three votes.
"Six votes between three of the strongest bids, there is something that is not quite right and that is something which needs looking at.
"You have got to open it up to all the member associations. You've got to widen the electorate.
"You should have transparency and open voting so that everyone knows who voted for whom, because I don't believe that the secret ballot actually helps transparency at all and it leads to the situation we had yesterday where people promise you something and don't deliver."
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12016_6549544,00.html
Andy Anson has revealed Fifa's executive committee turned their back on England's 2018 World Cup bid because of the British media.
The chief executive of England's attempt to land the global showpiece was left stunned after defeat in the first round of voting when they gained a paltry two of the 22 ExCo votes, despite having been promised several more.
A clearly frustrated Anson, speaking at a press conference in Zurich shown live on Sky Sports News HD, went on to suggest that it would be pointless attempting to secure the tournament in future until the voting process is overhauled.
The lead up to the decision at Fifa's headquarters was overshadowed by a BBC Panorama programme which alleged corruption among members of world football's governing body, and a Sunday Times investigation into 'votes for sale'.
And while Anson does not lay any blame at the door of the media, the message he and his colleagues are getting from some of the 22 men who awarded the 2018 tournament to Russia is very different.
He said: "We have spoken to some executive committee members and they are saying to us that our media killed us.
"Now I don't believe that, I don't believe that for one minute, but that is what we are being told.
"I still find what happened hard to understand and hard to believe. We went to bed feeling confident we would get through the first round so to find out we only got two votes is tough.
"We had a formidable competitor in Russia, who knows how they were lobbying and what they were doing, but they clearly got people to vote for them.
"When Sepp Blatter came over to 10 Downing Street it was clearly what we thought was a good relationship with the Prime Minister. David Cameron, to his absolute credit, when things went wrong he could have just backed away, but he didn't."
Don't bother
And Anson insisted there would be absolutely no point attempting to land the World Cup in future unless the voting system, which places all the power in the hands of Fifa's 22 ExCo members, is changed.
He said: "I would say right now, don't bother until you know that the process is going to change to allow bids like ours to win.
"When you have the best technical bid, the fantastic inspection visit, the best economic report and, from what people told me yesterday, the best presentation, it is quite hard to stomach that that seems to count for absolutely nothing.
"Having 22 guys only voting gives them too much influence. When 22 people have the power to decide on the world's biggest sporting event that gives them a lot of power and every individual vote counts for so much.
"It makes it a very tough process and that is an issue. Fifa do need to look at that process because it makes it very easy for formidable competitors like Russia and Qatar to gain influence.
"If you look at bids like ours, like Australia, like the USA, we clearly are accountable, to the press, the public and the government. We have to do things in a straight and ethical way and I think all three of those bids will leave here with their heads held high knowing they did everything as they should do.
"I don't know what else happened, but clearly Russia and Qatar are formidable competitors."
Not quite right
Anson went on to criticise the decision to name the 2018 and 2022 hosts at the same time and believes that with so many nations involved in the process it was inevitable that votes were exchanged.
He added "Running two bids together was clearly a mistake because everyone who had a vote and a bid clearly wanted to trade that vote to help them get over the line in their particular campaign. That was a huge mistake in my mind.
"Australia had a very good bid, they got one vote. We had a very good bid, we got two votes. The USA had an unbelievably strong technical bid, they got three votes.
"Six votes between three of the strongest bids, there is something that is not quite right and that is something which needs looking at.
"You have got to open it up to all the member associations. You've got to widen the electorate.
"You should have transparency and open voting so that everyone knows who voted for whom, because I don't believe that the secret ballot actually helps transparency at all and it leads to the situation we had yesterday where people promise you something and don't deliver."
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12016_6549544,00.html