I get the impression it would be borderline impossible to move the Russia one short of it being hosted as a join effort between us germany and Spain. Just got to see how this all plays out, we need the smoking gun first.
Germany, the States and ourselves are on the FIFA emergency list of hosts, deemed capable of hosting a tournament at incredibly late notice. Definitely plenty of time before nobody could step up, I've seen some daft stats that some American states have enough large stadia to hold the world cup by themselves. Taking it from Russia would probably be a mess politically.
Suspect Qatar could be the scapegoat they'll need. Politically taking it away from Russia would never happen. Look at how Sochi played out with the world watching the Ukraine issues unfold just months before. Qatar would not provide nearly the same level of hassle politically or logistically. Maybe stil an option for Australia.
If they remove it from Qatar soon then it would allow a country to put something proper together. For us to host it FIFA would have to bend on some rules such as the requirement that only one city can have more than one stadium, and that city can only have three. In general the retirements surrounding the stadia mean only Wembley, and perhaps old Trafford, currently would not have to be touched. If we expanded to a joint affair with Wales and Scotland hosting to (difficult as it would require allowing Wales and Scotland in as well as England without qualifying.) then we could use the milennium stadium, murryfield and Parkhead too. Which would make things easier.
I am sure that the emirates and st james park could both also be used and maybe Twickenham as a third london stadium? Given the short notice I reckon we could easily have sufficient stadia. How would the stadium of light fare? Or Anfield or villa park?
MK Dons was built for it..... Even without the backhanders, the decision to award it to Qatar was ludicrous. Plenty of smoking guns, just need to match the prints
According to wiki, our named stadia were Wembley, the Emirates, the Olympic stadium, Stadium of Light, Villa Park, Elland Road, Hillsborough, Bristol City's stadium, Home Park, Forest's proposed new stadium, St James Park, Old Trafford, City of Manchester stadium, Anfield and the MK stadium. Obviously some of them would require more work than others. Perhaps if we were to take the tournament on there'd be some changes.
That list was assembled on the assumption that they would have time to expand. Ashton gate, Home Park and stadium MK are all currently smaller than carrow road so would need huge renovations. The use of twikers would be a good call as the second largest stadium in the UK.
Actually Stadium MK currently holds over 30k and can be expanded relatively easily to 45k with the addition of a third tier, the roof for this is already in place. Its an amazing stadium. Twickenham has SEVERE restrictions on the number of days it can be used because of residential objections. Its why it could not be used as an alternative to Wembley during the rebuild.
Oh yeah they've finished their ridiculous expansion. Last I checked it was 22,000. Yet they ploughed another £50m in despite an average attendance of around 10,000.
The chickens are finally coming home to roost, about time too. Seriously though, if Russia were to have the competition taken away watch Putin because he will be a very angry man and may well kick off and not in a footballing sense!
Whilst I totally agree Putin is a dangerous man the only way he would react to the World Cup being taken away from Russia would be furthering his underhand tactics against weak countries. He is a typical bully boy,who picks on the weak and exploits there situations Putin is only attacking Ukraine because they are not members of NATO. Any slight movement against a NATO country could develop into Nuclear War,and even Putin is not that stupid. The best way of treating the 2018 Cup is to boycott it. Qualify as normal and then don't turn up. Now that would really get up FIFA's and Putin's nose.
