England 2018 World Cup Bid Already In Doubt Shocker!

Forgive the headline, please. It's just that, on occasion, it's nice to pretend to be writing for the Daily Star. In fact, that's probably preferable to actually writing for it, which, I would imagine, would be soul destroying.

I digress.

So, what could derail England's fledgling World Cup bid, I hear you ask? Well, how about the fact that the Museum of Football in Preston will be closing down at the end of this year.

Yup, that's right. According to Steven Broomhead, the chief executive of the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA), the museum's closure may put the England World Cup bid in jeopardy.

Here he says :

"My position is I want to see a National Football Museum open in the region and if it's not open, you have to think of any message that may give when trying to land the 2018 World Cup."

"I'm worried about that message."

OK, let's look at this a little more critically than Mr Broomhead seems capable of being.

Firstly, the existence or otherwise of the National Football Museum is going to be so far away from the criteria by which FIFA will decide who get the 2018 World Cup as to be irrelevant.

Secondly, the National Football Museum is going to be reopening in 2011 in Manchester. By the time 2018 rolls around it will have been in it's new home for seven years.

I'm not sure what Mr Broomhead's agenda is here, but he's going to have to do a little better than this if he wants to keep the museum in its current location of Preston.