Payback could be sweet – England to win World Cup in Russia 2018

We all had our fingers crossed yesterday as Mr Blatter revealed who would host the World Cup in 2018. Although we did not get the result we had hoped for, I was immensely proud of the bid we put together, the big names who got involved and had their say. It was a fantastic effort. David Beckham was so gracious in defeat despite the fact you could tell he was gutted and rightly so. He’s a model professional and really does care about his country.

It was definitely a bitter pill to swallow especially as our bid look as strong if not stronger than the others, to go out in the first round with 2 votes is almost laughable. I think the fact that Russia and Qatar came out victorious proved that the decision was based financially, and I wonder whether they took football into account what so ever.

The frustrating thing for me and I’m sure many others is that there is no real apparent reason as to why we are not capable to host a World Cup. We have the stadiums, hotels, transport, finances and most importantly we have fans that live and breath the game. Football is undoubtedly the number one sport here. Can we say the same for Qatar? I don’t think its fair to keep labelling our fans as thugs and hooligans as our football safety in and out of stadiums has improved drastically over the years.

Admittedly, there is the odd occasion such as The Carling Cup game the other night where trouble brewed between Birmingham and Villa fans which was a massive shame to see. However, all footballing countries around the world suffer this from time to time and I am understanding that the problem is worse in Russia than it is here. Peter Odemwingie, now of West Brom, was quoted saying he left the Russian league due to Racial abuse, can you imagine a World Cup where every time a player of a different race touches the ball, he gets attacked with boos, slurs and various jibes.

The World Cup is meant to be about putting on a spectacle and celebration of football. Its scandalous. I think now more than ever we can finally come to the conclusion that FIFA do not like us or respect us for that matter.

However saying all that, we must accept that its not the end of the world not hosting the world cup – but it would come pretty close if we failed to qualify for one! Its been a terrible year but me must move on. Finally we are starting to see some young and hungry footballers come through the ranks, Andy Carroll and Jack Wilshere spring to mind, two superb talents with huge potential. The situation is not as bleak as it seems. The F.A have said our next gaffer will be English which is vital in my opinion, Harry Redknapp has constantly expressed his desire to coach the national side and he would certainly be my choice. He’s the man to lead us to Brazil 2014.

Redknapp’s teams play attractive attacking football and he always seems to get the best out of his players. Nobody can deny he has worked wonders at Spurs. The fact that everyone seems to hate England can be turned into a positive and used as extra incentive to turn our fortunes around on the pitch. Imagine going to Russia and coming home with the trophy? I cant think of a better way to gain revenge, I know its along way away yet but we have to set goals like this in order to go forward.