Ferdinand gutted by bid failure

England captain Rio Ferdinand has led the reaction to the failed World Cup 2018 bid, describing himself as "gutted".

Russia got the nod from FIFA's executive committee despite England's odds of success shortening significantly after a lavish charm offensive led by Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince William and David Beckham.

Having heard the news from Zurich the Manchester United defender, who has played an ambassadorial role in England's bid, wrote on his Twitter account: "Wow Russia will host the world cup 2018....soooo gutted. What more could we have done? What did we do wrong?"

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who was part of the official delegation in Zurich, was also quick to express his disappointment at the decision.

"This is a tremendously disappointing result," said Johnson.

"We put together a cracking bid, our technical specification was top notch and our stadiums would have been packed to the rafters. Londoners love football. This is a blow but we have achieved a great deal with this bid and we have much to look ahead to."

"We remain 100% focused on developing London as the most exciting sporting destination in the world, and we have a lot to offer other countries from putting together our bid and from planning the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We will carry on providing a strong voice in football and world sport."

Johnson told reporters that, according to information he had received about the voting, England had been knocked out in the first round.

Martin Peters, who was part of the England team that won the World Cup on home soil in 1966, said on Sky Sports News: "I'm absolutely gutted.

"I'm sure the boys of 66 would have loved to have it back here and there'll all be really upset."

Former Football Association chief executive Mark Palios congratulated the bid team for their efforts.

"The bid team themselves did a fantastic job," he said. "They put forward the best case they could put forward and it's no discredit to them the fact we haven't won it. It's deeply disappointing for this country."

There were concerns that trouble at Birmingham following last night's Carling Cup victory over Aston Villa coupled with media investigations into alleged corruption within FIFA could have counted against England.

Palios, though, feels the election process itself is what needs looking at.

He continued: "With regard to the problems with the football hooligans, I doubt whether that has really influenced anybody because people accept we've managed that situation effectively over the last 10/15 years.

"The fact you have a very small electorate is a big issue. If you've got that you've inherently got the ability for a number of individuals to influence it. I think that's what needs to be looked at.

"You can lay over that a natural distrust of the media but what we won't know is whether that has been a factor."

Former England skipper Alan Shearer told BBC Radio Five Live: "I don't think anyone could have done any more, everyone's worked very, very hard but at the end of the day it's not been successful. If you try your best at least you can sleep at night.

"I was hoping I might see a World Cup in my lifetime in England. I wasn't born the last time we had one in '66.

"It's unfortunate, it's sad, it hurts, but you have to congratulate the winners and Russia have been winners today - and Qatar - so well done to those guys, I'm sure they've worked very hard, but it's disappointing from my point of view.

"Everyone was really happy and really confident with the bid that we put in, we don't feel as though we could have done any more.

"Everyone has worked tirelessly and for the Prime Minister and Prince William to do what they have done, we really couldn't have done any more."

David Beckham, a prominent member of England's bid team as well as a former national team captain, told BBC Radio Five Live: "I think the bid team have done everything possible, we couldn't have got a better bid.

"We're disappointed but we wish Qatar and Russia the very best, they're two great countries and I'm sure they'll make FIFA very proud.

"It's obviously hard to not come away with the World Cup in 2018 but a lot of congratulations have to go to the team, a lot of hard work has been done.

"With the Prime Minister's hard work and Prince William's hard work, the whole bid team has been exceptional.

"It would be great to bring the World Cup to our country because we've not had it for so many years but it's a process I've enjoyed."

Gary Lineker, whose tally of 48 international goals is the second-highest in England's history, added: "They've always said they want to push the frontiers - I was surprised they went with two new ones but there were a lot of good strong bids.

"It was always going to be hugely competitive, I just wish it was us."

Sir Keith Mills, England bid adviser, said FIFA were sending a message to the world.

"I think we are all gutted," he told the BBC.

"We felt over the last 18 months that we put together an outstanding bid."

He added: "I think our Three Lions in Zurich did an outstanding job in the last 48 hours and I think the presentation was faultless so I'm not sure what else we could have done.

"I think that FIFA are definitely sending a message to the world about where they want the World Cup to go.

"You have to understand that FIFA's view of a host city is different from our ours."

Officials in Manchester, which boasted two venues included in the England 2018 bid, said they were disappointed but proud of their efforts.

Old Trafford and the City of Manchester stadium would have played a major part in the tournament if England had been successful.

Councillor Mike Amesbury, executive member for sport and leisure, said: "England put forward an excellent bid in which Manchester played a proud part. While we're naturally disappointed that we weren't chosen by Fifa to host the 2018 World Cup, we remain an ambitious city and will continue to take our place on the world sporting stage."

Hugh Robertson, the Minister for Sport, said he remained confident that England had done everything in their power to secure the hosting rights despite some obvious hiccups along the way.

"We have had some disappointing moments but we arrived here with a magnificent technical bid and gave a great technical bid and a great presentation," the minister told Sky Sports News.

"We encouraged them to vote for football reasons. At the moment I don't understand and the only possible explanation is the one given by Sepp Blatter when he announced the decision, which was wanting to take football to new frontiers.

"I'm not sure I would say we were humiliated, everybody saw our presentation this morning and it was widely praised as being the best one the FIFA ExCo received.

"We now need to go away to understand why this happened."