England's arrogance will affect 2018 World Cup predicts former Culture Minister

By Duncan Mackay in London
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year

July 4 – England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup could fail because FIFA hates the fact that the sport in this country is “poisoned” by money, the former Culture Secretary Andy Burnham (pictured) has claimed.

Burnham, who was involved in the early stages of England’s bid to host the World Cup and is now a candidate to replace Gordon Brown as leader of the Labour Party, has revealed that be believes the rest of the world is disillusioned with football in England, particularly the Premier League.

He told BBC Radio 5 live: ”They dislike the arrogance of English football and they think we have failed to tame commercialism in our own sport.

“And it’s not just that it has a damaging effect on English football, it affects football everywhere, particularly in Europe because it has an inflationary effect on wages across Europe but also our clubs are bringing in that talent from a very young age from countries all around the world.

“So they see the effect of the English game on the stability of football elsewhere and they don’t like it and I don’t blame the for not liking it.”

Burnham, a season ticket holder at Everton, blamed England’s poor performance on the World Cup in South Africa on the overriding power that the Premier League wields.

He said: “I think money has poisoned our national game.

“Our game has rampant commercialism.

“We have put money before the sport and we are reaping the dividends of that.

“The governing body is a hung parliament and it isn’t able to take a view, as the interests of the Premier League, sadly, predominate at the FA.

“Since the Premier League was created we’ve had commercial forces running riot across our game.

“We have seen fans priced out of going to football, we have seen money going out of the top of the game and not benefiting the grass roots or the lower divisions and I think it’s got to change.

“We are paying people from all around the world to come here and hone their skills, leaving their own domestic leagues around the world free to bring on the next generation of talent, while our own players here can’t get into starting line-ups.”

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