was spotted over Wembley on Tuesday as David Dein, the international president of England's World Cup bid, confirmed the nation was about to and focus its efforts on winning the vote to host the 2018 edition.
In related news, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ understands the Vatican City is set to make a statement about the Pope's religious leanings and the is on the verge of discovering what bears do in the woods.
Please do not think I am ungrateful to Dein for clearing up this matter of almost no debate, on the contrary. With England out of the picture for 2022, we can now look dispassionately at what I think is the more interesting of Fifa's two World Cup choices.
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So there we were: me, ex-Chelsea/England defender , former GMTV host , the tall one from , a female prison officer from Exeter and a submariner from Preston playing tag on a football pitch in central London.
I'm not sure why they were there (beats working?) but my motivation was clear: English football needs me, it's obvious.
What else could I think when a day after the to catch the pearls of wisdom that fall from Fabio Capello's mouth, it launches a recruitment drive for grassroots coaching talent?
It's practically a come-get-me plea. But the even better news is they don't just need me, they need you too. In fact, the FA wants 50,000 more qualified coaches by 2011 and 8,000 new referees.
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The first manager Tim O'Shea heard about his employer's "spot" of difficulty was when a mate phoned him in a restaurant late last Saturday. One minute O'Shea was mulling what could be learned from a 0-0 draw against Billericay Town, the next he was being told about .
What's that got to do the Rams? Don't they realise we've got away on Monday?
O'Shea went home and spent the rest of the night watching the early stages of the unfurl on rolling news channels. He nodded off in front of the TV (they have the same effect on me and I work for one) but it was not a great night's sleep.
That Carshalton game, a 2-1 away win, could be the last time his surprisingly talented squad play together.
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Hi, I'm Matt Slater and I try to shed light on what's happening behind the scenes in sport - so everything from football finance to Olympic squabbles. You can also follow me on . 