World Cup 2018 & 2022 bids

Panorama tonight:

"Panorama investigates corruption allegations against some of the FIFA officials who will vote on England's World Cup bid. Reporter Andrew Jennings exposes new evidence of bribery, and accuses some executives of taking kickbacks. He also uncovers the secret agreements that could guarantee FIFA a financial bonanza if England hosts the World Cup."

BBC - Panorama - Panorama

I fear that this will not end well :(
 
Dont kid yourself to think this about some kind of moral obligation to fix corruption in footy - the media care only about ratings and the crappy timing of this is designed to create as much publicity as possible.

If I seriously thought it would do any good for sorting out FIFA then I would support it but I know it wont, this will only serve to create more media bollocks and harm our bid - just remains to be seen by how much ...
 
Dont kid yourself to think this about some kind of moral obligation to fix corruption in footy - the media care only about ratings and the crappy timing of this is designed to create as much publicity as possible.

If I seriously thought it would do any good for sorting out FIFA then I would support it but I know it wont, this will only serve to create more media bollocks and harm our bid - just remains to be seen by how much ...

Why would the BBC care about ratings?
 
Geat thing is we can now blame this, on us not getting the world cup, other than the normal vote rigging.
 
cnuts at the Beeb should be backing the bid not harming it

Fifa and Uefa have been corrupt as hell, all for getting these weasly bastards out of the running of the game. Watch them redo the trial in Switzerland though. Why? Because bribing officials is perfectly legal there, which is why they got away with it in the 2008 ISL trials.
 
Because they have to justify the licence fee... Did you think just because they weren't funded by advertising they dont have to worry about ratings?

Is that a serious question? I hope not

The public backlash over costing England the World Cup (and if England doesn't get it, the BBC will be blamed, make no mistake) would far outweigh the benefits of high ratings for one programme.
 
Why are USA even allowed to be considered again, takes the piss. England has not had it for over 50 years and its our sport!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They had it '94.
 
I don't get the Spain Portugal bid. Both countries are piss broke, Portugal probably needing a bale out soon. Spain had it reasonably recently in the 80's - only Italy, Germany and France have held it since in Europe - and Portugal only just had the bloody Euro's... and yet I read they're expected to get the most first round votes

If England don't get it, and frankly it seems a joke given our stadia and football culture we haven't had it since 66, I at least hope it goes to Russia who've never had it
 
I really don't get this, why are the times and the bbc trying to derail the bid, other countries with a free press aren't deliberately torpedoing their bids.

I wonder if we'll ever find out why.
 
:eek:

News corporations in reporting the news shocker.

the times didn't report news, they set a trap, the BBC are screening a documentary about things from over 10 years ago 2 days before the vote. There's only one agenda here.
 
I really don't get this, why are the times and the bbc trying to derail the bid, other countries with a free press aren't deliberately torpedoing their bids.

I wonder if we'll ever find out why.

I really don't understand this. Why does the general public think we'll get the world cup whilst we haven't got a hope in hell because we're not corrupt enough to bribe the FIFA, unlike the ruski's and Spanish. The point Panarama are trying to make is that the FIFA is corrupt and it is highly questionable whether we should be parting large amounts of taxpayers money to that lot. The FIFA should first sort themselves out.
 
I really don't understand this. Why does the general public think we'll get the world cup whilst we haven't got a hope in hell because we're not corrupt enough to bribe the FIFA, unlike the ruski's and Spanish. The point Panarama are trying to make is that the FIFA is corrupt and it is highly questionable whether we should be parting large amounts of taxpayers money to that lot. The FIFA should first sort themselves out.

do you think they're telling us anything we don't already know?

In any case run if AFTER the vote, or in one where we aren't participating, where were the times stings for previous votes?
 
do you think they're telling us anything we don't already know?

In any case run if AFTER the vote, or in one where we aren't participating, where were the times stings for previous votes?

listen, the new part was the names as they have votes on the FIFA council.. if they're taking bribes for that then you can be rest assured they'll be taking bribes for their vote. And assuming the English bid doesn't do bribes we never had a chance of holding the World Cup.

Has the penny finally dropped now?
 
Why are USA even allowed to be considered again, takes the piss. England has not had it for over 50 years and its our sport!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They had it '94.

Because there are two countries in all of CONCACAF capable of hosting it, and the other one is busy fighting a war against its own drug cartels and losing.

What're you complaining about anyway? You wouldn't have been getting it in 2022 regardless of how 2018 shakes out.
 
listen, the new part was the names as they have votes on the FIFA council.. if they're taking bribes for that then you can be rest assured they'll be taking bribes for their vote. And assuming the English bid doesn't do bribes we never had a chance of holding the World Cup.

Has the penny finally dropped now?

so run it after the vote, unless they have proof of bribes for this vote, and it still doesn't excuse the times sting. Besides, like I said did you really think these votes were 100% clean?
 
so run it after the vote, unless they have proof of bribes for this vote, and it still doesn't excuse the times sting. Besides, like I said did you really think these votes were 100% clean?

we shouldn't be bidding in the first place. not until they have sorted the corruption out. why does your tax money have to go in the coffers of some corrupt FIFA executive? Should we tolerate the world governing body being corrupt and breaking the law? Why should we allow FIFA to be treated differently to any other organisation or individuaL?
 
Since I'm not the one making ridiculous claims I don't really have to.

what other reason is there for running the documentary 2 days before the vote? As I said, is there one person in the world who believes these votes are 100% clean? FIFA is full of oportunistic greedy tools, just look at Blatter, still no excuse for running the documentary 2 days before, at best is tabloid sensationalism from our respected national broadcaster, at worst it's a deliberate attempt to make sure we don't get the bid.
 
The public backlash over costing England the World Cup (and if England doesn't get it, the BBC will be blamed, make no mistake) would far outweigh the benefits of high ratings for one programme.
Perhaps they should blame FIFA.

FIFA are supposed to vote on the quality of the English bid, not the English media. If FIFA allow this BBC documentary to influence their voting on England's bid then it again questions whether there is some form of corruption within that body of officials.
 
what other reason is there for running the documentary 2 days before the vote? As I said, is there one person in the world who believes these votes are 100% clean? FIFA is full of oportunistic greedy tools, just look at Blatter, still no excuse for running the documentary 2 days before, at best is tabloid sensationalism from our respected national broadcaster, at worst it's a deliberate attempt to make sure we don't get the bid.

You seriously believe that they are deliberately trying to ruin the bid?

When do you think the show will be watched by more people, before the vote or after? I'll give you a hint it's timed well/

I can't believe I have to repeat this but do you think showing it after is a good idea? I'll give you a not unlikely situation, England gets the world cup, These stories are revealed, England are accused of paying bribes, FIFA are monumentally pissed off, England get stripped of the hosting rights.
 
we shouldn't be bidding in the first place. not until they have sorted the corruption out. why does your tax money have to go in the coffers of some corrupt FIFA executive? Should we tolerate the world governing body being corrupt and breaking the law? Why should we allow FIFA to be treated differently to any other organisation or individuaL?

do you think it will change anything? Almost anyone with any power is corrupt to a certain extent. Do you honestly think ferguson has never given to or at least tolerated dodgy agents and such, feck me we had tevez for 2 years after a deal with that coke head agent of his. The times sting apparently got rid of 2 people who were going to vote for england.

Besides which the times sting didn't involve personal gain for the 2 accused and the BBC documentary doesn't involve votes for world cups. How many people here would be in that kind of position dealing with wanker money men from comercial companies and not try to line their own pockets if the opportunity arose, piece of piss to moralise when you'll never be in the position.

Anyway Barca were scary tonight, I don't think I've ever seen a team play that well before.
 
You seriously believe that they are deliberately trying to ruin the bid?

When do you think the show will be watched by more people, before the vote or after? I'll give you a hint it's timed well/

I can't believe I have to repeat this but do you think showing it after is a good idea? I'll give you a not unlikely situation, England gets the world cup, These stories are revealed, England are accused of paying bribes, FIFA are monumentally pissed off, England get stripped of the hosting rights.

well if he had got the vote then either it wasn't corrupt and there would be little point in running it now or in the near future or our bid team are corrupt too and we'd deserve to lose it
 
But the press aren't the bid team, they don't know if we used bribes, so they would run it anyway, never mind that it's their job

still doesn't answer the question of timing, why not 6 months before, why not 2 years after, it's hardly breaking news since it happened in the 90's and doesn't involve selling votes, and the times sting apparently targeted 2 likely englnd voters.
 
I haven't been following this much, but, erm... why are the BBC trying to feck up their own countries bid with a program 3 days before the vote?
 
still doesn't answer the question of timing, why not 6 months before, why not 2 years after, it's hardly breaking news since it happened in the 90's and doesn't involve selling votes, and the times sting apparently targeted 2 likely englnd voters.

I agree completely - the timing is so ridiculous that it really does make you wonder who is behind these decisions.

The Panorama programme was an embarassment - there really was no point to it at all.
 
still doesn't answer the question of timing, why not 6 months before, why not 2 years after, it's hardly breaking news since it happened in the 90's and doesn't involve selling votes, and the times sting apparently targeted 2 likely englnd voters.

Well the BBC use timing to increase viewers, quite obvious really.

As for the times I fail to see any fault in what they did, no votes were decided, unless they were already paid for :smirk:
 
What an odd program. Panorama has is an overrated pile of drivel. All they did was make some allegations which had nothing to do with the bid anyway but with some company. It was all rather dull. If you are going to ruin a bid atleast make it interesting. Well done the BBC and the national media in general.

Also that reporter has the most annoying voice one could hear. Snide buffoon.
 
Because there are two countries in all of CONCACAF capable of hosting it, and the other one is busy fighting a war against its own drug cartels and losing.

What're you complaining about anyway? You wouldn't have been getting it in 2022 regardless of how 2018 shakes out.

I reckon a Canada bid is due soon, reckon they could pull a blinder.