Is Beckham England's Trump Card?

Wednesday, 1st December 2010 at 07:53am

It would seem that the fallout from the BBC's Panorama documentary which accused a number of high ranking Fifa officials of corruption wasn't as bad as first feared and, although the program is bound to have upset some of Fifa's bigwigs, the comments from the two Davids - Cameron and Beckham - have been largely positive following meetings with none other than Sepp Blatter and Jack Warner among others.

With just a day to go until the big vote, work still has to be done but the presence of Beckham in Zurich seems to have stirred the England 2018 bid back to life, further underlining his status within the game as a true superstar and global icon.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo might be much better players than the former England captain ever was but neither of them can match 'Beck's' star appeal; he shines so bright even Sepp Blatter - a man who rubs shoulders with VIPs and dignitaries all over the world - genuinely looks forward to meeting with him.

The two met yesterday and naturally the Panorama programme was mentioned but afterwards Beckham announced that the matter had been 'cleared away'. Whether that's true or not, you get the impression if anyone could play the charm card and pull the most powerful man in football back onto England's side of the fence it was the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star.

He believes that the England bid members which includes David Cameron, Prince William and himself can pull the bid out of the fire at the last minute.

Beckham's presence is also welcomed by Jack Warner - a man potentially with England's fate in his hands - who as far back as 2008 told journalists that Beckham should be the face of the England bid and made comparisons between him and Pele as a world sporting figure.

Plus Beckham has previous experience of helping England pull off the unlikely and I'm not just talking about that free kick against Greece in 2001.

In 2005, Beckham and the Prime Minister Tony Blair headed to Singapore to coerce International Olympic Committee members into voting for London 2012.

Paris was widely expected to win the right to host the Games but a late surge from the London bid down the final straight was enough to secure the win.

If history repeats himself, Beckham would become so popular he might even be able to usurp William and find himself in line for the throne.

The presence of the second David - aka Prime Minister Cameron - might also prove significant especially as Russian Premier Vladimir Putin is not expected to travel to Zurich highlighting a significant drop in confidence about the Russian bid.

Mr Cameron spent the day clearing the air with members of the Fifa voting committee following the airing of the Panorama programme the night before and his talks with Warner are believed to have been positive.

If England do indeed win the right to host the 2018 World Cup, even Mr Cameron's popularity in England might go up; stranger things have happened.

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