World Cup Decision Day.

The whole thing is a circus and reflects badly on everyone involved.

Tbh, I think it's a damned liberty that the nation that gave football to the world should have to stoop to such levels. England should be given first refusal to host every other world cup finals as a gesture of gratitude and respect from a grateful world.

RUSSIA!!!!!?

41 degrees on average the temperature in qatar in july,what a sensible decision i think n ::)ot

Out of 22 delegates we apparently only received 2 votes! i.e a tenth in a field of four.

The media undoubtedly screwed up any chance we may have had and maybe it was a forlorn cause no matter how good the bid was. Was the timing of the panorama programme justified in light of the damage it has caused?

One of those votes was by an Englishman aswell. Whoever was the only non English FIFA member to vote for England deserves a beer. What is patently obvious from the voting pattern is that contrary to what FIFA said, they were very annoyed by the expose of their corruption and they have punished England for it. What's more annoying is everyone knows FIFA are corrupt as sin but can't do anything about it because of how they control world football.

Russia I can accept even though it has MASSIVE hurdles to overcome, what I can't accept is the bid that was by far and away technically the best getting only 2 votes, it just smacks of FIFA's corruption and self interest. I'm also beyond annoyed at the Sunday Times and BBC for putting us in this situation. Although I hope they run wild on FIFA in the coming months and try to drag out every story they can find.

Qatar is just batshit insane. It smacks of corruption aswell. Previously FIFA had a rule whereby you couldn't have two stadiums in one city in a world cup bid. Only one exception was allowed and this was usually the capital city. Qatar's bid has all but one stadium in the Doha Metro area, the only stadium not in Doha is in a town of 5,000 people. More like a village. It's an utter sham of a bid and should have been disqualified before you go into it's logistics (it only has one airport), it's lack of hotels, how hosting in a Muslim country will nuke sponsorship deals, it's lack of things to do outside of football matches, the risk of terrorism and the extreme heat during the summer. The only thing I'm left wondering is how much the FIFA ExCom got from Qatar for voting in this crazy bid. It would have been infinitely better to have gone to the USA or Australia.

That would be Issa Hayatou - although given the size of the bribes he had received (according to Panorama) I would expect him to buy you one! I had heard that the Japanese delegate voted for us - a personal friend of Sir Bobby Charlton but it seems that this was incorrect.

It was pretty disasterous, but ultimately no surprise. I would say that it was shabby of Panorama to air their programme last week and the gutter press to entrap "lord" triesman (although he is an idiot and better-off away from UK English football). People like Jack Warner and Blatter are just two of the disgusting characters controlling global football - the corruption is just unbelievable and barely even disguised. All the so called promised support from the 22 voters involved today resulted in one piss-poor vote (other than the chairman of our own bid).

It's very much endemic wherever there is football - the corporate strangulation of English football from the top down is killing the game anyway. It's become far more sterile - I certainly don't have much interest in the top flight or the England national team - so many of the players can't engage their brains and keep their trousers on or out of trouble.

I don't feel that we should have been automatic choices, but it's incredible that we got shot-down in the manner we did. It's laughable that the founders of football will not have had a world cup event in over 50 years and no sign of one for the foreseeable future. Qatar was judged to be the poorest technical bit, Russia was described as a risk. Whilst I appreciate that backhanders and oil-wealth of the winning bidders will appeal to the FIFA executives it beggars belief.
How much does English football give to international football? I think that it's time to stop giving any finance (which is the only thing that they understand) and support to such an organisation as part of a massive overhaul of the administration of English football. Stop playing England matches on neutral venues abroad and stop pandering to the authority of tinpot nations around the world - let them wallow in their own s**t. Do something that actually helps grassroots football and communities in these countries rather than kowtow to these greasy buggers.
Who would I choose to help drive English football forward? Step forward Niall Quinn - a man of integrity and vision who knows the game, supporters and club administration. I've heard many intereviews with him and have been hugely impressed with his efforts in the North East and Sunderland for both the world cup bid and the people of the area.

I feel for the local businesses and workers who would have worked hard in the region (and around the whole country) - couldn't give a toss if it is damaging to the scum though. It would have been prestigous for the region and I think would have been a real benefit in bringing infrastructure up a peg or two. I think that our club might have seen some good come to it as well.

I hope that football changes because of this failure - but for the benefit of footballers from the grassroots up and also supporters. I somehow think that little will change and we'll be raking over the embers of future failures.