It was recently announced that the UK government were committing to a bid to host the 2030 World cup as they were keen to bring football home but is now really the right time? Coming out of the pandemic I am sure that there are plenty of other places the bid money could be spent especially at the grassroots and lower league levels where there season has been ended early and suffered from all the cancellations and lack of fans. 

The UK government is reportedly pledging £2.8m to kick off the process which is already a big chunk of money gone which could go towards getting those smaller and grassroots clubs back on their feet. Is the bid coming at the right time or could it be delayed a bit longer? When England lost out on their 2018 World Cup bid they had already spent £21 million on the bid, so would it be worth delaying the process getting the UK football scene back on track and develop the game even more before throwing money into the possibility of hosting the tournament. 

UK Prime minister Boris Johnson has said that this would be a great opportunity for the country which when you think about it, the opportunity would be great but I think right now we need to focus on building the grassroots teams and lower league teams to keep them a float once this pandemic is over. Yes we might be bidding for a tournament that is 9 years away however, a lot can happen in 9 years and who knows where football will be in that time. Clubs are already struggling from the lack of fans and who knows how many clubs are going to end up disappearing in the near future due to the knock on effect. That £2.8m they have already spent on the bid could have been distributed around clubs (not the top flight ones) just to keep things turning over for a little longer. Boris Johnson said football would be coming home, but would it really be coming home if a lot of the clubs the countries population supports are gone or on the brink of collapsing, it is going to take numerous years for clubs to recover from this pandemic. 

No doubt the bid would lead to clubs applying to be upgraded so they were fit to host the games as we wouldn't need to build whole new stadiums like past host countries, ours could just do with a bit of TLC and refreshing. I just hope that the governments bids account for these upgrades because if not I can see a lot of clubs applying then struggling to commit to the upgrades due to the financial strain it puts them under. Hopefully the government would also have an idea in mind of the stadiums they would want to use rather than stringing clubs along and have them spending money for no reason if they are were never even going to be considered for their stadium to be used during the tournament.

Remember when the UK hosted the Olympics back in 2012 and the slogan was 'inspire a generation' well the Olympic stadium is now a football stadium for West Ham United and most of the other facilities ended up being repurposed or reduced in size. I guess at least we already have the stadiums there and they won't go to waste however, we can only inspire people to play the game if there are clubs at all levels for them to go join. This means the government will also need to focus on protecting the grass roots club, invest in training more coaches and referees to keep up with demand and ensure those who want to get involved get the chance, I think the government and FA would also need to look at developing the womens game a lot more too over the years as it could easily end up inspiring a lot of girls who currently wouldn't be able to find a team to play for. 

Fingers crossed the bid would also show that games would be spread out all over the UK instead of the majority of the big games being held down south. This would not only give fans from the UK a better chance of seeing a game and experiencing the World Cup fever which would definitely sweep the nation, just look at how we go every 4 years as the World Cup approaches it would no doubt be a festival atmosphere for the duration of the tournament. It would also be great for the competition to be hosted all over the UK so that the whole of the country could benefit from what the tournament is going to bring in. The tournament would be bound to bring in a lot of tourism to the country with fans from all the nations competing entering the country to watch their team play where they would be needing somewhere to stay, something to eat and drink and no doubt go shopping whilst here, this could just be what is needed to give the economy a boost after the pandemic even 9 years down the line as we don't how long there is going to be implications for following on from the pandemic. 

I wonder if a successful 2030 bid could get the government looking at placing a bid for a Women's World Cup in the near future as we would have the facilities and it could be a big step for the country as the women's game continues to grow over here in the UK. We are already hosting the Euros for the women's game so I am sure we would be more than capable of hosting a World Cup for them too, I actually think this would be a more realistic target than hosting the male one. 

The bidding process formally opens in 2022 and personally I think the government needs to take time to evaluate the situation with football and the effect the pandemic has had on the game at all levels before throwing all the money into the bid when work could be done elsewhere, there is no point putting unnecessary pressure on the clubs and country if it would make more sense to make a bit for a tournament a little further down the line. It definitely would be great to have the World Cup fever running through the country in the build up to the competition and during it as we have all seen how the England fans get during any competition with the country competing in it. 

What do you think is the bid a good idea or should we wait a bit longer?