Newcastle Gateshead and Sunderland deliver World Cup bids

Nov 27 2009 by Adam Jupp, The Journal

NewcastleGateshead and Sunderland both delivered their bids to be World Cup host cities yesterday. ADAM JUPP reports from London as 15 cities from across the UK descended on Wembley Stadium to present their bids to FA officials, including chairman Lord Triesman and Football League boss Lord Mawhinny.

A GALAXY of stars, all backing NewcastleGateshead’s World Cup bid, dazzled visitors to Wembley Stadium yesterday.

The Tyneside delegation included in it the biggest number of former players, who all wanted to do their bit to secure World Cup football for the region they love.

Led by former Newcastle United and England skipper Alan Shearer, the team on the day included David Ginola, Paul Gascoigne, Peter Beardsley, Rob Lee, John Beresford and Jack Charlton.

NewcastleGateshead’s bid centres around the theme “football at the heart of the city,” both in terms of its importance to the Geordie public and St James’ Park’s central location.

And all the soccer celebrities told how the North East’s passion for football meant the so-called twin cities should be the first name on the list when it comes to deciding where games will be hosted.

Shearer said: “As a NewcastleGateshead bid team, we’re all very confident of getting ourselves into England’s World Cup bid. Then, it’ll be a case of helping England win the right to host the tournament, and I think an English World Cup bid will be much stronger for having St James’ Park in it. We’re all pretty confident we’ll be in there.”