In less than a week, England’s football World Cup bid will know whether it has succeeded for hosting the 2018 World Cup or whether it will be three score years between potentially staging the World Cup for the mother nation. The head of the Spanish FA, one of the English bid’s rivals, pithily said “All the fish are sold.” In other words, all the FIFA members are bought. Don’t be surprised if Spain/Portugal will be the next stop of football’s carnival after Brazil, with Qatar, a state not much bigger than Kent, selected for 2022 (with a possible nuclear-armed Iran across the water). On a final note, let’s not forget one Sunday newspaper rendered the FA leaderless, all for the sake of a scoop, while another got two FIFA members who were favourable to the English bid suspended, all for the sake of a scoop – nice going guys. To top it all off, the BBC will rake over old ashes in an attempt to antagonise those remaining on the FIFA panel who might vote for England, just because they want to be seen as editorially independent. And journalists wonder why ordinary people (and FIFA) see them as scum. They will have played their part if England loses by one vote or two.