How we used to do World Cup bids

OK, it failed, but this When Saturday Comes article on England's bid to host the 2006 World Cup reminds us of a time when players from the victorious 1966 side were acknowledged as important. The current bid committee chose Michael Ballack, Sven Goran Eriksson, and the man who cleans the public toilets in Aberdeen, a certain Wee Jock Poo Pong McPlop, whose allegiances, unlike Ballack's and Eriksson's, must surely be questioned.

Today the Internet is awash with reports about the impending slaughter of cows at South Africa's new World Cup stadiums. Check out the hurried response from FIFA at the end, which was in all probability followed by doors slamming and someone shouting "Get me the President on the phone NOW!"

Behind the news curve as usual, the FIFA site plumps for some dull stuff about Ronaldo's (the Portuguese grass hugger rather than the Portuguese speaking pie eater) ankle and the news that Diego Maradona will bring his "How to harangue journalists" workshop to Munich next year for a pre-World Cup friendly. And inexplicably, Stephen Warnock talks up his chances of making the squad for next year.