Dein tells England fans to ‘Back the Bid’

David Dein, England's World Cup 2018 international president has urged the British public to get behind the nation’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

The former Arsenal vice-chairman is concerned that there could be a backlash against the bid from FIFA members unhappy with the British media

Dein said: "We are at a critical time. Everybody is working full out to try to get the World Cup back to England.

“We've got to concentrate on one thing and one thing only - to give it our best shot.”

He believes that the bid was still on track despite the media furore.

"We're in it to win it and hopefully we'll get a good result. We need the country behind us.

“English football and particularly the Premier League goes to over 210 countries around the world, it's the most watched football product of any nation, we've go a lot going for ourselves."

Dein is in Brazil this week and was scheduled to have informal meetings with FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Brazil's FIFA member Ricardo Terra Teixeira on Monday.