So we lost! The hysteria whipped up by SkySportsNews in the build up to the announcement meant the nation was gripped, ready for the little gnome to announce us the hosts of the 2018 World Cup Finals.
Strangely though, especially after Dion Dublin's Nostradamus like predictions ("we heard it here first"), FIFA seemed to have spelt ENGLAND, RUSSIA.
It was odd that the presence of the "holy trinity", Beckham, Cameron and Wales, seemed to have all pundits and bookmakers alike sure that we were a shoe-in. They were positive we would be watching Paraguay v Algeria at the New Home Park, Plymouth and Austria v Japan at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes.
Yet, within the past few months, them and their peers were convinced the bid was down the toilet due to the BBC Panorama programme and The Sunday Times exposing the corruption deep within FIFA.
Doesn't seem they looked far enough.
The Daily Telegraph today stated that a number of executive committee members turned tail and ran at the Ruble after promising to back the English bid after the final presentations and pleading had commenced.
Whilst the immediate response was frustration and anger, this was miss-directed at Russia. On the surface they did nothing wrong and even whatever was going on underground is clearly not an issue for FIFA. They fly in the face of ethics and trust when it comes to making a fast buck.
Russia obviously knew the game better than us, and turned enough heads (not least with the buxom blond in the leopard skin dress, dancing around when the name was read out) within the committee to ensure we'd be running around on plastic pitches in Moscow, St Petersburg et al come June 2018. Just like the good old days at Luton and Oldham.
Maybe we have all just been incredibly naive. Bid Chairman Andy Anson made a passionate address stating that it would be a waste of time and money putting in another bid unless the voting procedures were changed, radically. It looked like a case of sour grapes, but when, as he so rightly pointed out, we had the best technical bid, the best economic bid, the best stadia currently available and the best presentation, it seemed to count for nothing, as Marios Lefkaritis from the footballing powerhouse Cyprus pointed out " If England think they did not suffer because of their media then they are stupid and naive". Ah, there was me thinking it was about football and the ability to stage a tournament, not what our independent TV stations and papers report, regardless that they were proven right and votes were bought.
It doesn't seem that the righteous indignation stops and starts with the the press and blogger's of this country. The acting F.A Chairman, Roger Burden stepped down and out of the candidacy for the permanent role, commenting "An important part of the F.A job is to liaise with FIFA, and i want nothing more to do with them" and elaborated in his letter to the F.A board that he was not prepared to deal with people whom he could not trust.
Of course Russia and Qatar aren't going to be complaining and you don't see the Netherlands/Belgium or Spain/Portugal bid team making such statements, but when you are promised votes by the members of the committee and they renege on that promise it becomes hard to work with these people. What benefit was there for them to switch their votes at the last minute? Or were they just lying?
The Executive Committee has been described in the news since Thursday as a "boys club", if you hurt an individual member they pull rank and punish those responsible. Is this the behaviour of a group of men who can, at a whim, toy with people who have worked hard to present a bid worthy of holding the World Cup, which by 2018, will be 52 years since the last time. Its not as if they have had to work hard in any capacity during the past two years to create an environment for the worlds greatest sporting event.
Jack Warner, the vice-president of the committee and former world footballing star....or sorry no, one of the greatest managers the world has......sorry.....no, he wasn't that either....whats he done then? Erm.......anyway, he had control of three votes, told Prince William England had his vote and then voted Russia. He must have been in a bad mood because the Trinidad F.A had to fork out $6million to the players of their national league (i know, who knew they had a league, let alone that much cash) after a court ruled against him. The man sounds like a class act.
At the end of the day, its done. Finished. Nothing we can do. Unless we take it to an independent arbitration, but something tells me they won't find in our favour.
I hope all the teams participating at Qatar 2022 enjoy the 50C temperatures and if we want to stand any chance in Russia to ship in a couple of hundred plastic pitches and get whichever ball FIFA think up for the particular tournament in well in advance.
One things for sure, in the words of Andy Anson, a new bid would be "a waste of time".
I'm so looking forward to it.
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