Frenchy

French Sunday paper publishes 1998 internal UEFA memo to FIFA which includes reference to payment agreement between Platini and FIFA. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/35020279 http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1032301/hope-for-platini-but-new-us-department-of-justice-indictment-keeps-heat-on-leading-fifa-officials So they knew about that agreement all the time! Hard cheese Splatter! And better luck next time you son of a b****!!!

I don't see why it shouldn't....

They may perhaps have nothing to prove to the French but they certainly have a lot to prove to any other potential bidders if they don't want the recent debacle to happen again....

Not so much 'pessimism' as 'realism'. The French remember what happened on the three previous occasions and they trust the members of the IOC only as far as they can throw 'em! It's for the IOC to now show a clean pair of hands and show that they have - finally - got their act together and rooted out all the rotten wood....

Marseille is just a 3 hour train (railroad) ride from Paris using the TGV. It was the 2013 European capital of culture. It's also an incredibly warm and friendly city......that's if you don't get lost in the Quartiers Nord!

"Chi va piano, va sano e va lontano"

If you don't give us the games, Teddy Riner will come looking for you!! #JeReveDesJeux

Very interesting. That poster + the message you posted on another thread gives us a unique insight into what a potential Toronto 2024 strategy will be to counter the Paris bid. Thanks for that. Just hope it doesn't come back to bite you in the a*** in a future Toronto bid......

Agreed.....

I seem to remember Mike Lee was also instrumental in getting the 2022 WC awarded to Qatar after having been overlooked by the British 2018 team...... http://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/dec/02/mike-lee-qatar-world-cup-bid http://www.espnfc.com/story/848615/where-england-failed-and-why-qatar-won

It's probably a case of "keep your friends close and your enemies closer"! And he won't be playing on someone else's team......

He'll need all that time to do the shredding!! I agree with Michelle, Noël Le Graët is an absolute buffoon who needs to be kicked out of the FFF now!! As to who will succeed Splatter, Platini may not be perfect but in the cesspit that is FIFA he is one of the rosier smelling ones........

Problem is, he's a great footballer but a useless speaker!

.....with a tendency to confuse his personnal finances with those of LOCOG! http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/12/04/uk-britain-olympics-idUKL043165120071204 http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2007/sep/10/Olympics2012.politics http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/c4-defends-dispatches-from-attack-by-coe/121672.article as revealed by Channel Four's 'Dispatches' investigation.

Hope you'll be on the shore to wave the arrival of the Hermione, Baron!

Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, stated that the Parisians would be "consulted". What form that consultation would take wasn't specified. It seems, nevertheless, that a full on referendum isn't on the cards...... Seconded....

The poll was published in a Sunday newspaper: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CB0BzfgWEAENTiV.jpg:large Anne Hidalgo has also hinted that there might be a referendum in 2016. Her exact words were that "the Parisians will be consulted in 2016" (video in French): http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2lr8q3_anne-hidalgo-le-village-olympique-doit-etre-situe-en-seine-saint-denis_news Lastly and unsurprisingly! https://twitter.com/trolympic/status/584799222895095808 PS: ignore previous post.....

Sublished in a Sunday newspaper:

I can't say that I completely disagree with that statement!!

The Paris Hotel de Ville where the 2024 announcement was made is a 19th century building. The Louis Vuitton foundation is a 21st century one. Both bids (2024 & 2025) showcase what we did best yesterday and what we do best today and tomorrow!

We're obviously not reading the same articles Tulsa. This one claims the contrary and says that there is nothing to stop France from organising both the 2024 SOG and the 2025 UE: http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/sport/jo-2024-et-expo-2025-deux-projets-qui-ne-se-marchent-pas-sur-les-pieds_1658406.html (in French) The article goes on to remind the reader that Spain held both the 1992 SOG in Barcelona and the UE in Seville the same year. That the rugby WC will be held in Japan in 2019 and the SOG in 2020 and that both the 2016 WC and 2018 SOG have/will take(n) place in Brazil. As for the suggestion that Paris should sit 2024 out and wait for 2028, it's only a minority that are voicing that proposition. Funnily most of them are from the 2025 UE bidding team!!

Well he would say that, wouldn't he! He there's one thing he's terrified of and which probably gives him nightmares, it's Paris 2024 doing a 'Rome 2020'.......

Then again we all know the IOC is so very good a setting up a whole raft of wonderful new rules and regulations which are supposed to bring down the cost of hosting a game (as they did in Prague back in 2003, remember them?) only to sit on them at the first opportunity....

Just to savour that moment a little bit more: Karabatic kicking Qatar's backside!!!

Well theoretically they could....... ........but they DIDN'T!!!!!!!!! http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/sport/en-direct-l-equipe-de-france-de-handball-defie-le-qatar-pour-un-5e-titre-mondial_1647094.html