'England only have themselves to blame for 2018 failure'

England's 2018 World Cup bid chiefs have been advised to stop blaming Fifa and look at their own failings.

Mike Lee, the man behind the marketing campaign for Qatar's successful bid for the 2022 tournament, said England's campaign had been marked by a series of own goals.

England bid chief executive Andy Anson has said England should not bid again until Fifa change and FA general secretary Alex Horne has promised to push for reform of the World Cup bidding process. But Lee said: "You can understand the frustration and disappointment but I'm not sure it's healthy to blame everyone else and not reflect on the campaign itself. As you look back, from the choice of the wrong bid leader in the first instance through to alienating the Premier League and a series of PR own goals, it has not been a success.

"A lot was made at the beginning of how it was not going to repeat the mistakes of 2006 but it actually repeated many of those mistakes and even ended up with three fewer votes."

Sunderland-born Lee, who helped bring the 2012 Olympics to London and the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro, believes the England bid was damaged by the scandal which saw former FA chairman Lord Triesman resign.

Lee added: "If I'm being absolutely brutal about it, and I look at international campaigns from across the world, this England bid campaign was not Premier League, it was relegation and League One. It was clear to everybody that Lord Triesman was not the right choice. He was not popular among his colleagues here in English football. He was terribly unpopular in international football and, for nearly 60 per cent of the campaign, we were hampered."

Lee did pay tribute to the work of bid international president David Dein as well as David Beckham, Keith Mills and Seb Coe, and said Dein would be the ideal choice to fill the vacant position as FA chairman. He also said England should start bidding for more Fifa and Uefa youth and women's tournaments.

"This is an opportunity to appoint someone who knows the game at both club and national team level and also has experience of the international football environment. David Dein does have all of those credentials and I do think he would make an ideal candidate.

"It is also clear that the FA need to look at other Uefa and Fifa tournaments that will not only showcase what England can do but also be an important building of bridges for the future. We must develop a much more international outlook to the way we work in terms of Uefa and Fifa.

"It might also be smart to sign up David Beckham as an international ambassador and work with him to explore what role he could play once his playing career is over."