The failed bid left the region wondering what could have been. Joe Willis watched the announcement at St James’ Park, in Newcastle, while Stuart Arnold gauged the mood at the Stadium of Light, in Sunderland.

THE region feared the worst well before Sepp Blatter took to the stage.

The news that England had been knocked out in the first round of voting had been trickling through for some time.

When Fifa president Blatter finally opened the envelope to reveal Russia had won, there was despondency and shaking heads, but no huge outpouring of emotion.

Last December, the FA selected Tyneside and Sunderland to host World Cup matches if England staged the tournament.

The announcement was the culmination of more than a year’s hard work for the two potential host areas.

Bid chiefs said the double success could land the region a £70m windfall, with businesses, tourist attractions and universities all benefiting.

This week, Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn said the World Cup would have “put the North-East in the world spotlight” for the next eight years.

But it was not to be.

At Sunderland FC’s Stadium of Light, dozens of people thronged into the club’s sports bar to watch the announcement live.

There was a buzz of excitement as eyes were trained on banks of TV screens around the room.

But the optimism and expectant faces quickly evaporated as reports filtered through that England’s bid had failed, and there was near silence as the result was announced.

On a day the Stadium of Light also hosted a graduation ceremony for local university students, the city’s bid failed to graduate to World Cup class.

One man flung his arms in the air with exasperation, while others bit their fingers, but most looked resigned.

Disappointed Sunderland FC chairman Niall Quinn, an official ambassador for the bid, said: “We are feeling pretty low and flat right now, but we must spark back into life very soon.

“So many people have devoted their lives to this bid in the past 18 months.

“We had a great bid – all of us together as one.

“This was a chance to put Sunderland on the map, and now we will have to find another way.”

Asked about England going out in the first round of voting, Quinn said: “If it is proved right that politics decided this, then none of the work we have done in the past 18 months will have mattered.”

One of the journalists present asked the former Sunderland striker if he felt like a drink. Quinn joked: “John Smiths Extra Cold. Like in Russia.”

In a quickly emptying Shearer’s Bar at St James’ Park, where the Newcastle- Gateshead bid team had gathered to watch the announcement, bid chairman David Faulkner described the result as a bitter pill to swallow.

He said: “I find it hard to believe it [Russia’s] was a better bid than ours.

“I just hope the decision was taken on purely football grounds.

“I do feel there were other things that came into it, but we still congratulate Russia.”

Among those who had gathered in the bar were former World Cup winner Jack Charlton and Newcastle manager Chris Hughton.

Derek Llambias, managing director of Newcastle United, felt the reason for England’s failure lay nearer home.

He said: “The nation has lost and the North-East has lost out.

“My personal point of view is that our media have played a big part.”

Another disappointed man, Sunderland official bid director Chris Alexander said: “There is deflation, but in Sunderland and the North- East, we will not just go and find a corner somewhere and feel sorry for ourselves, we will get on with it.

“We need to make sure that the impact of the work we have done still makes a difference in the communities of Sunderland and beyond.”

Also at the Stadium of Light for the announcement were fathers Paul Johnson and Peter Elliott, whose respective sons, Alex, ten, and Dylan, 13, are on Sunderland’s academy books and who joined the official England bid team when the bid document was handed to Fifa officials.

Mr Johnson, from Consett, County Durham, said: “Our bid was tremendous and to go out in the first round, we feel a bit cheated by Fifa.”

Mr Elliott, from nearby Blackhall Colliery, said: “I am gutted, but not really surprised.

“A lot of hard work went into the bid from Sunderland, England, the kids, everybody.”

Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb, whose team supported Sunderland’s bid, said: “Like everyone else, we are naturally disappointed because bringing the World Cup to England would have been a huge event for the North-East.

However, our bid was as good as it could have been and we wish Russia well.”

Back at St James’ Park, Newcastle legend John Beresford summed up the feelings of many. “The World Cup coming to the North-East – how good would that have been?”

We may never know.