FIFA inspectors began a four-day visit to inspect England's 2018 World Cup bid on Monday with the campaign boosted by encouraging words from FIFA president Sepp Blatter. A six-man FIFA inspection team was to be greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg at Downing Street and also meet England manager Fabio Capello before taking a tour of Wembley Stadium.
The team will also assess facilities and stadiums in Manchester, Sunderland and Newcastle this week. England face a tough battle in the bid to stage football's premier tournament for the first time since 1966 with Russia considered to be the frontrunner.
England's hopes of staging the tournament were boosted when Blatter, who has already praised Russia's bid, said it would be "easy" to hold the competition in England. He told insideworldfootball website from Singapore: "The easiest way to organise the World Cup is to go to England.
The absence of British Prime Minister David Cameron from the greeting committee has raised eyebrows - he is on a family holiday. But Cameron has spoken by telephone to Blatter, who urged him to take his holiday, Sports Minister Hugh Robertson said.
"I'm not at all concerned because further down thwe line when they come to make this decision we are going to have David Cameron there and a series of other people who won't be meeting to meet the technical team that's here to look at our facilities today," Robertson told the BBC.
"Successful international bids don't throw everything at it early on. They bring the various elements you need to secure world-class events into play as you go through the bid." Robertson said the fact London had been awarded the 2012 Olympic Games was a huge plus point in favour of England's bid to stage the World Cup. Last week the six-man FIFA inspection team, headed by Chile's Harold Mayne-Nicholls, visited Russia and, concerningly for those in England worried by Cameron's absence this week, highlighted the importance of their meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. "He (Putin) gave us clear government guarantees in support of the bid to host the World Cup," Mayne-Nicholls said.