World Cup 2018

No tips today, just some thoughts.

I was only two years old in 1966 so I don't remember anything about the tournament. On the day of the final my mum, her mum and I went for a walk in the park as there's no doubt that I would have been too disruptive and my dad and my grandad wouldn't have appreciated that.

A couple of years later the team from the town I grew up in reached the Amateur Cup Final: my dad and one of his mates went to see them lose 1-0 at Wembley and I wanted to go. Not because I understood why they were going: I didn't want to be miss whatever was happening because the whole town was excited about it. My mum - who was seven months pregnant - and I spent the afternoon with some family friends, who - then as now - are Watford supporters.

We're only a few hours away from the vote that decides the host country for the 2018 finals and I've just watched the final presentation by the FA bid team: it was great stuff and I'm not ashamed to say that I got a little emotional about it. Apart from a few wild years where I didn't really pay much attention to what was happening (those years were called the mid eighties, which were a spectacularly crap time for English football), I've been a football fan since I was seven years old and being able to see a World Cup in England is something I've always wanted to do.

The result will be in at 3:00pm GMT and I'll post something then.