Public put their shirt on World Cup bid

Sep 11 2009 by Adam Jupp, The Journal

THE case for bringing World Cup football to Tyneside was yesterday presented to a delegation of FA officials.

The team of inspectors were in the region to run the rule over Newcastle-Gateshead’s campaign to be a host city for the festival of football.

Along with Sunderland, the so-called twin cities want to be included in England’s bid to FIFA to stage either the 2018 or 2022 tournaments.

The six-strong delegation spent Wednesday on Wearside and turned their attentions to NewcastleGateshead yesterday.

They started the day the Malmaison hotel, on Newcastle’s Quayside, which is one of the hotels suggested as a base for teams and supporters.

From there, they were taken on a tour of the sites proposed for “fan fests”, where travelling supporters would mingle with locals and watch games.

They were Newcastle Racecourse, Exhibition Park, Leazes Park, Baltic Square, Times Square and Gateshead’s Saltwell Park.

Officials were also given a tour of St James’s Park and walked round Newcastle city centre, where they got a flavour of the Tyneside public’s support for the bid.

Thousand of schoolchildren and workers pulled on their football shirts for the day, including staff at the Greggs bakery, in Gosforth, Newcastle.

Retail services manager Laura Armstrong said: “As a company with our heritage firmly rooted in North East, Gregg’s and all of our staff are proud to be backing the bid to bring the World Cup to the area.

“It would be a fantastic boost for our economy and will give us a chance to offer people from across the world a good North East welcome. We also look forward to introducing the world to our stottie cakes.”