Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn believes the politics surrounding the World Cup 2018 bidding process meant England’s bid had “no great chance” of success.
The former Republic of Ireland international is devastated that his club has missed out on the chance to play host to football’s biggest showcase.
However, he admits they might have been fighting a losing battle from the off.
Writing in his programme notes ahead of this afternoon’s Premier League clash with West Ham, he said: “Every city that was part of the England bid got there on every issue that had to be addressed over the last year and a half.
“What we weren’t able to put together was a way of defeating the way the politics involved can influence the way the votes swing.
“If we didn’t make it past the first vote, then we can’t have been in with a great chance no matter how good our bid.”
That said, Quinn insisted that Panorama’s investigation into alleged corruption among members of the 22-man Fifa executive committee who took the vote did not help England’s case.
He said: “The truth of what happened will all come out in due course and I am all for freedom of speech, but we will never be able to accurately measure how much the Panorama programme may have impacted on the bid.
“What I would say to the people who thought it was in the public interest to broadcast that programme a few days before rather than a few days after – the decision is, ‘Come and explain that to the people of Sunderland’.
“Come and explain that no new hotels will be built, explain that the infrastructure that was promised and planned can’t be rolled out now and explain what’s happened to the jobs that would have been created.”