Ireland/Scot bid 'victim of geopolitical shift'

The Ireland/Scotland bid team that failed to land EURO 2008 has insisted they did nothing wrong in their campaign but were victims of a geopolitical shift in European football from the west to the east.

UEFA’s Executive Committee yesterday voted for a joint bid from Austria Switzerland to stage the 2008 European Championships, with the Celtic campaign ranked among the bottom three bids of the seven contenders.

Speaking in Dublin today, Scotland/Ireland EURO 2008 bid marketing director Simon Lyons said: "We believed everything had been done, we believed we had a genuinely strong bid and we believe there was a move in football to try and strike a balance of fairness about where they put tournaments.

"That geopolitical balance seemed to come to mind. It said, ‘hold on a minute, all these tournaments have been on the western seaboard from Sweden in 1992, England (96), Holland and Belgium (2000) down to Portugal (2004); maybe it should swing to the east.’

"We believe that was a very strong factor in the decision process."

Lyons insisted, contrary to speculation from UEFA sources, that neither the perceived lack of political unity towards the bid in Ireland nor the unresolved question over the use of Croke Park was an issue in the bid losing out.

He added that any decision on whether to bid for the 2012 championships would not be taken for at least 18 months.