England 2018 Bid Receives Submissions from 15 Applicant Host Cities

(WFI) In a day studded by the appearances of some of the country’s great footballers, England’s World Cup bid team received bid submissions from 15 candidate cities at Wembley Stadium.

John Barnes, Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer and Jack Charlton were some of the faces seen at English football’s self-styled home.

“We had 15 cities in today with over 20 stadia,” said bid CEO Andy Anson.

“FIFA say we need between 12 and 18 stadia, so we’ve got a job to do to narrow down what has been handed down to us to get within that range.

“It’s been an unbelievable experience today. The energy and passion from these cities has been unbelievable and the work that they’ve had to do to get to where they are today is significant.

“They’ve all come along with massive, very detailed, very complicated technical bids. They’ve signed all the agreements [and] we’ve got to a place very early in the process where we feel great about what’s coming down.”

In total 14 applicant host cities – Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth, Sheffield and Sunderland – and one town – Milton Keynes – submitted bid proposals.

Throughout the day applicant host cities turned up at allotted times at Wembley to present their bid documents to England 2018 officials, including Anson, bid chairman David Triesman and board member, Brian Mawhinney. Mawhinney, who also serves as Football League chairman, has led the inspection process with technical director Ian Riley.

Newcastle provided the most razzmatazz, with the bulk of their great 1990s team – including Ginola, Shearer and Peter Beardsley – turning out. They were joined by Gascoigne, who looked in fine form after a period of ill health.

Olympic diving prodigy, Tom Daley, made the most spectacular arrival, on behalf of the Plymouth team, arriving at Wembley in a hot air balloon to deliver his city’s bid book.

“FIFA’s technical standards understandably are very high and it is vital we are as thorough as possible in making our selection,” said Mawhinney.

“Ian Riley and his team have made two inspection visits to each city and have provided as much advice and assistance through the process as possible. We believe England would be the perfect host to a World Cup tournament. This process will identify the best possible facilities the country can provide to FIFA.”

Portsmouth drop out
The submission of the final bids through Thursday came at the conclusion of a busy few days for some host cities.

On Tuesday, Portsmouth city councilors voted against submitting their host city bid after refusing to provide the necessary financial and legal guarantees.

Conservative council leader Steve Wemyss told local media that submission of the host city bid would be “deceiving” local council tax payers. “Let’s say no rather than have to cut other services to pay for this,” he added. “We have to be realistic.”

Given the dramas over Portsmouth’s ownership in the last few months, a viable host city bid from the south coast port always seemed fanciful. The club had originally envisaged an ambitious waterside development, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, architects of Beijing’s iconic Bird’s Nest stadium.

But with a price tag of £600 million ($987 million) and Portsmouth unable to even trade in the transfer market due to massive financial problems and questions over its ownership, it always seemed unlikely it would meet its obligations. Plans to develop its existing ground, Fratton Park – one of English footballs more unprepossessing venues – never got off the ground.

Question marks over Olympic Stadium and Everton
In London, question marks hanging over the use of the new 2012 Olympic Stadium and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium were clarified, with both stadia included in its bid along with Tottenham Hotspur’s proposed new stadium.

There was no place for Twickenham, home of English rugby, while Chelsea had already discounted Stamford Bridge as a possible venue.

What form the Olympic Stadium will be in at the time of the World Cup nevertheless remains in doubt. Part of London 2012’s legacy plans are for the upper tier of the 80,000-seat stadium to be removed to make way for a permanent 28,000-seat athletics stadium; this would obviously be no good for the World Cup, which requires upwards of 40,000 seats.

The Olympic Stadium’s future has revealed a schism between key officials: London mayor Boris Johnson is in favor of keeping the stadium at full capacity for a further six years, while Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell has argued against it. A report in Wednesday’s Guardian newspaper put the ongoing cost of maintenance and upgrading to meet FIFA’s criteria at £100-150 million ($164-247 million).

Confusion over Liverpool’s bid still hangs in the air after it emerged last night that the government has rejected Everton’s plans for a new stadium in the satellite town of Kirkby. The Kirkby stadium, along with Liverpool’s proposed new ground at Stanley Park, were included in its host city bid.

A Liverpool city council source told World Football Insider that the city remains committed to supporting Everton in their search for a new home in the city.

But some confusion remains about how this will translate in its bid documents.

WFI understands that Liverpool’s bid document was submitted with the now-doomed Kirkby project included, while an exclusivity agreement signed with Everton’s development partner, Tesco, has meant it was unable to scour the city for alternative sites during the course of the public enquiry into Kirkby.

Some doubt also remains over the viability of Liverpool’s proposed new stadium, but the club’s existing ground, Anfield – described by Anson as a “pretty good, iconic stadium” – has also been included in the bid document to showcase how the city is already set up to stage major football matches.

Written by James Corbett
Your best source of news about the global football business is www.worldfootballinsider.com

 

For FREE World Football Insider news bulletins
Click Here

(Copyright 1992 - 2010, all rights reserved. The information in this report may not be published, excerpted, or otherwise distributed in print or broadcast without the express prior consent of World Football Insider and Around the Rings, Inc.)