The bid seems to have been strong but a Panaroma investigation alleging corruption of certain FIFA Officials and other allegations in the press probably haven't helped the cause. Something else that wouldn't have helped would have been the scenes of violence during the Carling Cup Quarter Final Match between Birmingham City and Aston Villa last night. Birmingham won the game 2-1 and face West Ham away in the Semi Final. After the match a pitch invasion by Blues fans led to flares being fired and seats ripped up as they tried to get to the Villa fans.
I'm not going to talk about the rights and wrongs of football hooliganism but I will say that a lot of these so called hooligans are the same fans that will travel the country week in week out, whatever the weather and whoever their opponent may be.
The game itself was scrappy albeit played at a fast pace. Blues took the lead thanks to a Seb Larson penalty after Lee Bowyer had been bought down. Blues scored again but this was disallowed. Villa then went up the pitch and scored, although this should also have been disallowed for offside. With extra time and penalties looming Zigic managed to put the ball in the back of the net and send Blues through to the next round.
On an evening when the temperature never made it above -2C I thought I was being clever staying at home and watching it on TV. Having seen the match and what followed afterwards I think I made the wrong decision!
