Last week London made it onto the shortlist of countries for the 2012 Olympic Games. Following this there was a reshuffle of top management of the bid team, which meant that the chair of London 2012, Barbara Cassani, stepped aside and Lord Coe became the new chair of the bid. This has been done so that the team can win over the international sporting community.

Sorry, but this is a big mistake. I don’t see how making it onto a shortlist changes anything. The report by the IOC indicates a number of areas where London needs to improve in order to be considered for the games: notably transport, athletes’ accommodation and the venues for the sports. Cassani stated that its a great advantage having Coe in place as chair since “it will be easier to sell the bid with a world champion, double gold medallist who was born in London.” By this I presume she means that Coe has more experience with the whole infrastructure of London than she does. However, one only needs to visit London for a few days to realise the horrendous problems that exists in that city. I don’t know how someone who ran a bit and pretended to be a politician for a few years can figurehead the resolution of these problems, rather than someone with corporate experience. This is like asking someone who reads newspapers to run WHSmith.

Others feel that Cassani was moved because she’s American and it’s not quite right to have an American fronting a UK bid. Nor is it politically sound given the current problems in Iraq. I really don’t understand why people are as short-sighted as this. We have a large contingent of foreign management in football. We also have a non-UK coach for the England cricket team. Neither is Cassani responsible for the invasion of Iraq. Many people get confused between America as a political organisation and the people of America.

Anyhow, London’s bid is doomed to fail because of its poor infrastructure. The IOC said in their report that “the assumed average bus travel speeds of 34mph appear unrealistic.” Unrealistic? That’s an understatement! When I worked in London in 1985 the transport was pretty bad, and in my times travelling in and around London since then the situation has got worse. London requires decades of major investment and innovative transport policies in order to improve the situation, but I cannot see this happening. I think it’s best to write London off as a host for a major sporting event and start looking elsewhere.