That 2010 World Cup may be just around the corner, but it's the bid for 2018 that is taking a lot of the attention at the moment. The Times' Oliver Kay wants the bid team to ''get real'' and win over the people that matter.

''On the day that England officially opened its bid to host the 2018 World Cup finals last May, in the appropriate surroundings of the Bobby Moore Suite at Wembley Stadium, it was hard to resist the heady feeling that football was finally coming home, even if, in a nod to the acute sensitivities of the vote-winning campaign ahead, that particular phrase had been declared off-limits.

''The preferred slogan - less imperial, more inclusive - was “England United, The World Invited”, but, as the months have passed, the prospect has arisen, not for the first time, of a party falling flat.''

Time to get serious about winning over the votes that England needs, says Kay. Although the signs are not good.

''It comes back to that word: Realpolitik, politics based on self-interest or power rather than moral or idealistic concerns. When the executive committee members go to ballot in December next year, many will do so thinking less about what is best for the World Cup than about what is best for them and for their national interests. Trade-offs and flattery will get you everywhere.

''There is a duty to get behind the bid, to show the world how much England, as a nation, wants to host the World Cup. But right now there is a worrying feeling, emanating from inside the bid team, that football is not coming home, that a great opportunity is slipping away. Early days these may be, but it is time to step up the bid - before it is too late.''

The Independent's Ian Herbet, meanwhile, has his views of Man City - from a nice Abu Dhabi hotel no doubt. But has his reservations about the size of the project facing them.

''City have failed to capture the imagination of the locals - most people here don’t know who they are - but their manager is fully aware of the ambitions of the club’s Emirati owners,'' he begins.

''The place is still so barely populated that its many wide walkways are empty but when they decide they want Formula One racing, they build the most extraordinary piece of architecture in the sport at Yas Marina, inside two years. They believe they will have created the footballing equivalent one day, too.''