Looks like England will probably bid to host the 2018 World Cup, and if we’re successful then fantastic. Maybe New Wembley will even be ready in time. But here’s what we shouldn’t do. We shouldn’t repeat the mistake of 2006 (one of many) where the fans and media suddenly puts a timestamp on success.
Remember all that talk about how this generation would “come of age†in 2006? Newcastle’s Kieron Dyer and Michael Owen were supposed to be at their peak, a emerging Wayne Rooney was set to ignite the football world while the matured leadership of David Beckham, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand et al would help guide the squad. Turns out that was just a poor excuse for failure in 2002 and 2004. If anything the 2006 England was inferior to the earlier, work in progress, models.
So if the 2018 World Cup is indeed held in England, please let’s not conveniently target that year to suddenly be good and excuse the failures in between. There’s a fair few International honours up for grabs before that.