England 2018 boss Andy Anson calls for FIFA reform
Baku, December 3 (AZERTAC). England 2018 bid chief executive Andy Anson has warned his country against bidding for the World Cup again until Fifa reforms its voting process.
Fifa`s 22-man executive committee - each with one vote in a secret ballot - picked Russia to host the event as England collected just two votes.
"I would say right now don`t bother (bidding) unless you know the process is going to change," said Anson. "When there are only 22 guys that gives them too much influence."
England, who have not staged the World Cup since 1966 and also failed to land the 2006 event, were knocked out in the first round of voting. The England 2018 team believe African confederation president Issa Hayatou voted for them, along with bid chairman Geoff Thompson.
A senior government source has told the BBC that at least five executive committee members "personally assured" Prince William and David Beckham they would vote for the England bid, only to back other contenders in the first round.
The source said Concacaf president Jack Warner and general secretary Chuck Blazer were among the executives who had given the assurances. Russia (nine votes), Spain-Portugal (seven votes) and Netherlands-Belgium (four votes) went through to a second round of voting. Russia then earned an absolute majority of 13 votes, with Spain-Portugal on seven and Netherlands-Belgium picking up two.
England received a stronger evaluation report than Russia and their final presentation on Thursday was described by Fifa president Sepp Blatter as "excellent and remarkable".
And despite suffering a number of setbacks during the bidding campaign, there was a feeling that England had made great strides in the build-up to the vote.
Prince William, Prime Minister David Cameron and Beckham lobbied hard for support, but Anson suggested executive committee members went back on their word by backing for England`s rivals.
"I still find it hard to understand what happened," he told a media conference in Zurich on Friday morning.
"When you have the best technical bid, fantastic inspection visits, the best economic report, and, from what people told us, the best presentation, it`s quite hard to stomach that all that seemed to count for absolutely nothing. "I`m not going to beat around the bush - individual members promised to vote for us and didn`t clearly. "They are saying to us that our media killed us but I don`t believe that for one minute, but that`s what we are being told. "Russia did a lot of last-minute lobbying and votes appeared to switch at the last minute - we know some switched in the early hours of the morning."
Anson was repeatedly pressed on who did not deliver on their promise of voting for England, but he refused to reveal any names.
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