Greg Dyke hints David Gill could reignite England’s World Cup bid
ENGLAND chiefs may lift their ban on bidding for the World Cup while Sepp Blatter remains president of Fifa following former Manchester United chief executive David Gill’s election to the governing body yesterday.
Football Association (FA) chairman Greg Dyke warned that scepticism remained following England’s failed bid for the 2018 tournament, which was awarded to Russia, but said Gill’s appointment as a Fifa vice-president might provide sufficient reassurance of a fair and transparent process.
“If David can assure us there is a proper system and it’s fair then we could be persuaded,” said Dyke. “But at the moment the policy is straightforward: we don’t bid while Mr Blatter’s there.”
Blatter, 79, is expected to be re-elected in May despite facing opposition from rival candidates including former Portugal star Luis Figo. If the FA’s Blatter boycott remains it could rule England out of bidding for a World Cup beyond the 2026 tournament. Dyke added: “You have to get an awful lot of people onside and that’s not going to be easy in England now because a lot of people got badly scarred in the process last time.”