Richard Scudamore admits World Cup uncertainty
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore admits it is hard to have confidence over England’s bid to host World Cup 2018.
FIFA committee members will vote in Zurich today on who will host the tournament in eight years’ time, with England competing against Russia and combined bids from Spain/Portugal and Holland/Belgium.
And Scudamore told Sky Sports News: “You can’t be confident because it’s just too difficult to call.
“Too many things can happen. You’re talking about getting inside the heads of 20, 22 men who all have their own views, and even that might be altered at the very end. So you can’t really say.”
There have been fears that crowd trouble at Wednesday night’s Carling Cup tie between Birmingham City and Aston Villa could harm England’s bid.
But Scudamore added: “I don’t think it will. It filtered through last night and most people were aware of it.
“If you actually analyse it, it looked ugly but I think West Midlands police did a fantastic job.
“Within minutes it had been contained. We know it was a difficult fixture, it was well managed and won’t have an impact on today.”
FIFA president Sepp Blatter is expected to announce the winner of the bidding at 15.00 GMT.