England’s wobbling World Cup bid has been reshaped and reorganised but for all the tactical changes forced on skipper Lord Triesman, the 2018 squad still seems to lack fire-power up front. There are some worthy big guns on board, like Lord Coe and Sir Keith Mills, both architects of London’s successful 2012 Olympic bid, and the articulate ex-Chelsea star Paul Elliott.
Then there’s Prince William and King David plus a host of ambassadors voluminous enough to scoff all the chocolates at a Ferrero Rocher soiree.
But it still lacks a high-flyer prestigious enough to have the ears of the FIFA delegates flapping. Someone of real stature with the aura, personality and oratory to capture a football audience. Gary Lineker says he doesn’t have the time and Seb Coe can’t really split himself in two with the demands of running the Olympics, although I believe he will be a keynote speaker when the vote is taken a year from now.
So who else should be up there alongside him on the platform party? Sir Bobby Charlton? Still much admired and remembered but perhaps rather past tense these days. Triesman has unwaveringly committed himself to be the figurehead because he says that is what FIFA demands, but there is some doubt about this. Anyway, he is no vote-winner.
However there is someone who could sway things England’s way.
Step forward one man who seems to have been overlooked though the reason may be all too obvious. Sir Alex Ferguson. What’s this? A Scot who might win something for England? Why not? Has anyone bothered to ask him? If anyone can win over the FIFA delegates it a Fergie, a figure as huge and symbolic in English football as his Manchester United.
Moreover, his enlistment would certainly paper over the cracks that exist in the FA and the Premier League and are said to be undermining the bid. Fergie’s managerial record in English football is unparalleled and his international reputation widely respected. And of course, United themselves would be one of the World Cup beneficiaries. He’s no mean orator, either, speaking with passion and without notes, as anyone who heard his deeply moving tribute to Sir Bobby Robson will testify.
Those north of the border may splutter over their haggis and mashed ‘neeps at the prospect but I doubt that would bother Fergie who has always been his own man and, like so many of his fellow countrymen, has enjoyed the fruits of working in England.
So perhaps it is payback time. He’d be the first to ignore any Caledonian carping at the thought of a Scot actually waving the flag for England and should Triesman have any qualms about asking him, perhaps he should be reminded that one of his predecessors as chair of the English FA was a Scot – Sir Andrew Stephen, the man who sacked World Cup winner, Sir Alf Ramsey.
And that list of ‘ambassadors’ from which the name of Sir Alex significantly is missing happens to include a German [Michael Ballack], plus odd bods from countries like Ghana, Argentina, South Africa, Paraguay, Jamaica and the Ivory Coast. Even Pakistan.
So why shouldn’t a Scot support the England bid – after all Scotland may be the ‘auld enemy’ but they aren’t rival bidders. If one Scottish knight [Sir Craig Reedie] could help London win the Olympic bid why shouldn’t another do the same for England 2018.Or must we continue to be bedevilled by parochial, partisan pettiness?
All that matters is that FIFA would recognise Fergie (pictured) as someone of great presence who speaks from the heart and represents the true power and prosperity of football in England.
Lord Coe, who I understand, was instrumental in convincing fellow peer Triesman, a well-intentioned leader who appears out of his depth in sports politics to reshuffle the bid team, would certainly back Fergie’s involvement. I suspect he still has hopes that Fergie might even be persuaded to manage ‘Team GB’, aka England, in the 2012 Olympic football tournament. But that’s another story.
It is interesting that Russia, whose chances I have fancied from the outset seem to be moving into the favourite’s slot.
They have the money, the political muscle and the backing of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, plus Putin-power.
England may be getting their act together now but one of the major mistakes made initially was not embracing Mike Lee, London 2012’s communications chief, so well contacted in international football.
He is now instead working on behalf of Qatar, one of England’s rivals who hosted this month’s international friendly with Brazil. Getting the message across is paramount and Triesman seems to have realised this by bringing in Simon Greenberg, the ex-journo who is the outgoing communications and public affairs director at Chelsea, as chief of staff, a title which makes it sound like operations are being conducted at the White House rather than Wembley.
If this is to be more a military operation, he’ll certainly shake up things in the bid bunker. I remember him as a young, sharp-nosed sports reporter, rather full of himself but nonetheless a good operator who worked for a sports magazine, the Mail on Sunday and went on to become sports editor of the Evening Standard in London. He wasn’t averse then to digging the dirt but had to undergo something of a role reversal at Chelsea, where the object was to bury it.
An Alistair Campbell spin-alike, he is the classic poacher turned game-keeper, a situation I experienced myself during a short spell I call my journalistic menopause, running the PR for a tour operator. I know what it is like trying to keep a tasty story out of the papers when your instincts tell you that you should be writing it.
Some may think Triesman would have been better off hiring Simon Cowell rather than Simon Greenberg, whose talents hardly extend to the sort of schmoozing FIFA expects. But if one of the first calls the new chief of staff makes is to Old Trafford then England’s fading 2018 hopes might be given a Glasgow kiss of life.
Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered 11 summer Olympics, several football World Cups and scores of world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.