The media would be asked not to delve fifa 15 ultimate team coins into Fifa's books and the British government would sign away its sovereignty to a private club in Switzerland who would set up a tax free republic for six weeks in the shires. For that reason some will feel relieved the English bid was wiped out. No more spurious friendlies in Trinidad and Tobago to please Jack Warner, who cast his vote elsewhere anyway; no more delusions about England's standing in the world game. The "football's coming home" rhetoric was dumped this time round but it made no difference to Fifa's view that the English radiate a sense of entitlement. All this is mere context to the cold reality that Blatter and friends were desperate to send 2018 to Russia.

style="font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;">Qatar's victory for 2022 accentuates that point. Fifa elected to deliver all its shocks at once. England were safe but unexciting. Much better to open up Russian football to expansion and bring Arab petro dollars into the picture. To land that double bonanza Fifa humiliated England, Australia and America: three developed powers who were all stunned by how they were treated. England were not alone but they have the biggest decision to make. Or maybe not, in the sense that they have no chance now of escaping pariah status, and so may as well retreat. David Beckham is known to be aggrieved that all his work for Fifa was rewarded with false promises of votes.

For an instant it seemed England had found their Michel Platini or Franz Beckenbauer: not a statesman, but certainly an ambassador. Fifa, though, has seen the last of Beckham in a ceremonial role. Correcting the structural weaknesses of the English game always felt more important than winning a world Cup bid. If in doubt, we might rewatch Germany v England at the World Cup or England v France at Wembley last month. We await the formation of a 30 person task force, with a ï¿¡15m budget, to produce a national curriculum, in the French www.fifa15buycoins.com or German style.