Ex-England football player backs Bristol's 2018 World Cup bid

He has lived in the Midlands, East Anglia and on the south coast, won the UEFA Cup with Ipswich Town and starred in the film Escape to Victory alongside Pele, Bobby Moore and Sylvester Stallone.

But ex-England international Russell Osman wouldn't rather be anywhere other than Bristol and has added his name to the city's 2018 World Cup bid.

Bristol is in the running alongside 14 other cities to host the biggest names in world football come 2018 or 2022 if England wins the right to stage the World Cup.

And Osman, a central defender, manager, and now football pundit, believes the West Country is long overdue its share of international action.

Under the tutelage of Sir Bobby Robson, Osman came through the ranks at Portman Road and entered the realm of legend when the Tractor Boys overcame AZ Alkmaar to lift the UEFA Cup in 1981.

Osman, now 50, from Burton-on-Trent, was voted into the Professional Football Association's team of the year that season and went on to win 11 caps for England.

It wasn't until the twilight of his playing career that he found himself in the West with Bristol City before taking charge of them in 1993/1994. While he lacked success in the league, his side shocked the football fraternity with a memorable 1-0 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup.

And he is part of a unique clique of managers who have coached both teams in Bristol, City and Rovers, after stepping into the breach at the Memorial Stadium in 2004 on a temporary basis before Ian Atkins took over.

"The fact is you've basically got everything here," he told the Evening Post.

"This is the longest period of time I've lived in any one place. This is more home to me than where I was born. I even like my cider now. I've been won round."

There is one omission though from the bountiful number of reasons why he has come to adore Bristol. It has culture, history, international film, comedy and music stars, major sports teams in football, cricket and rugby – but no international football or a stadium worthy of staging it.

"We've somehow got to be able to bring international games into the West Country," said Osman.

"Not over the bridge into Wales and Cardiff. I've managed there and I think they've had a lot of success hosting the FA Cup Final. But we need a big venue in the West Country.

"We need to bring massive games to Bristol City, Bristol Rovers and the neutral supporters in the West Country that would come from Devon, Cornwall, Wiltshire, Dorset and from over the bridge in Wales. They would come to see massive games if we were part of England's World Cup bid."

He cites the passion of the local support, both red and blue, and Bristol City's brush with a return to the top flight last year as further reasons for inclusion, but focuses his arguments more on the extent of grassroots football in the region.

"The non-league scene is massive in Bristol," said Osman. "You go up on the Downs any weekend and you'll see games of football going on there from corner to corner across the spread of the Downs.

"You look in the sports papers at the weekend and you try and look for your kids' results in it but there are thousands of teams playing and the multiples from that show how many people are playing.

"We play a massive amount of football here, which I don't know if people credit us for.

"There's still the old stigma of the West Country as a bit of a rugby area but I think by the success that the football clubs have had over the recent years, bringing bigger teams down to the West Country, is stimulating support for both clubs."

To illustrate his point he draws on Rovers' fixture list this season. Leeds United, Millwall and Charlton Athletic are no small fry. These are big games, big names, and signs of progress.

"Bristol is putting itself on the map as far as football is concerned," he added. "And the icing on the cake would be to be part of the 2018 World Cup."

After leaving Ipswich Osman's career took him to Leicester and down to Southampton before settling on Bristol with short stints in Plymouth and then Cardiff . So he is au fait with the motorway network, and understands the pain of a long trip to Wembley to see the national team.

"We've got to put it on people's doorstep and make it accessible to an awful lot of people that have been starved of that facility for a long time."

"It's the biggest sporting event in the world bar none and you can see that by the television figures. It's just such a fantastic event. You wait four years for it, just to watch it somewhere.

"And if England don't get it in 2018 or 2022 who knows how long we're going to have to wait."

In 1981, as well as lifting the UEFA Cup he mixed it in the film world with Pele, Stallone and Moore in Escape to Victory, a film in which an international all star team of prisoners of war take on their Second World War German captors.

"That was a great experience for me as I played with some of the greatest international players from around the world," said Osman. "If you start talking about the World Cup, you can't have any conversation without including Bobby Moore and Pele.

"It was a great honour for me at that time to play alongside them, even though it was only in a film, to be on the same pitch, to work, to do training with them."

Bobby Moore captained England to World Cup victory on home soil in 1966 while Pele was part of three World Cup winning teams in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

"If in anybody's lifetime they get to be in a centre where there are World Cup games going to be played, then they've got to make the most of it, as it is a once in a lifetime opportunity."