Dan McDonnell joined the Football Show on Tuesday's Off The Ball where he poured several gallons of ice-cold water over Ireland's joint World Cup 2030 bid.
The process of a feasibility study had politicians talking earlier on Tuesday, giddy with the prospect of a 'festival of football' spread over both islands. Dan was unimpressed.
'Absolute and utter garbage..'
Fair to say @McDonnellDan was not having a second of this World Cup chat as anything other than distraction!
Full Football Show ➡️ https://t.co/EoEfHNp0E0 pic.twitter.com/FIKQp1WaLw— Off The Ball (@offtheball) March 2, 2021
"FIFA would need to bend their own rules to allow that [use of regional stadiums] to happen, to allow these other stadiums in without considerable expense and work," Dan said.
"So they are competing against bids that don't have any of those issues.
"We are working on the assumption that the people involved in this bid for some time are aware of that, and have been working on the basis of having the Aviva and Croke Park being the only two realistic shows in town."
Absolute Garbage
The politicians pushing the World Cup bid message across any and all media, except sports outlets, riled the Irish Independent journalist.
"So a lot of the other chat around this bid today, to be frank, has been absolute and utter garbage," McDonnell said.
"Including that segment there [with Jack Chambers] going on about 'the football family' and all that.
"In fairness to Jack Chambers, he has been good on some things recently around providing reassurance to football."
"The FAI should be aware that they need a good relationship with the government after getting basically a bailout of Irish football.
"So maybe the FAI just need to sit back and let this politics happen. Michael Martin being doorstepped and being almost out of breath with having some positive news after what the country has been in.
"This is very exciting, that the feasibility study that was launched in 2018, well the news is 'it is still a feasibility study, but Boris is going to put some money towards this feasibility study.'"
World Cup bid, let's all dream
It is not just the political cynicism that makes the World Cup bid unlikely but also the political reality within football's governing bodies.
"Let's all dream, but what has actually been going on in the real world," Dan urged.
"The real problem that the bid is that within UEFA there is thought to be quite a bit of support for Spain and Portugal bid.
"To put it in football parlance this bid has a job to get out of their group if they decide to go through with the bid, nevermind actually win [the rights to host] the tournament itself.
"Let's not get too carried away here, but it is already too late for that. It is the political story of the day so who are we to question it?"
Football on Off The Ball with Paddy Power – new normal? Same old football. Visit PaddyPower.com to get the latest on the Acca-Cracker Free Bet.
