Leicester City fans dismayed at World Cup bid failure

The Walkers Stadium will not be hosting World Cup football

Fans and officials have reacted with dismay in Leicester after the city lost its bid to become a potential host during the 2018 World Cup.

Alistair Reid from Leicester City Council said: "We will now move on to other things, but we were disappointed as we thought we had a good bid."

Mr Reid said Leicester's transport links and excellent accommodation would have made it an ideal host city.

Thousands of people in Leicester had signed a petition supporting the bid.

'Always underdogs'

The only other cities to miss out at this stage are Derby and Hull.

Former Leicester City star Allan Birchinall said: "The mood around the club is disappointment. But I am not surprised.

"There was fantastic effort by the city council and Ross Wilmot and also everybody connected to the club.

"We are always the underdogs in everything.

"It sounds like sour grapes now but we've got the infrastructure with hotels near the M1 and we have had the junior internationals at the stadium and the Special Olympics.

"In Nottingham, they don't even have planning permission where they want to site their new ground."

Nottingham was one of 12 cities to be named as part of England's official bid for the 2018 event.

England will find out if the bid to host the World Cup is successful in December 2010.

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