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On my first day back behind my desk I have just sat through the most extraordinarily compelling set of presentations on the England 2018 bid.

The FIFA inspection team are in town to do their report on the technical aspects of the bid and I was part of the team presenting England's case. Nick Clegg opened the batting by stressing the absolute commitment of the new coalition government to the bid. We then saw a video message from the PM stressing how passionate we are about the game in the England and quoting Liverpool coach Bill Shankly's comment that "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death...but it is worth much more than that." It appeared to be extremely well-received by the FIFA team.

Then Andy Anson, CEO of the bid team, gave a more detailed outline of our proposal. He pointed out that our bid offers technical excellence - probably the best football infrastructure in the world, with all the stadia needed to host the World Cup due to be built anyway regardless of whether or not we win. He also stressed the commercial strengths of our bid, and the amount it could potentially raise to boost the game in developing countries.

I then focused on our track record of delivering for London 2012 as an example of what a reliable partner we can be for FIFA, and Hugh Robertson wrapped up by talking about the many other sporting events we are hosting. Certainty in uncertain times was the theme we came back to time and time again.

Are we going to win? Impossible to call and we should remember this was a technical presentation to enable the inspectors to write a report, not a presentation to the 24 people who will actually be voting in December. But there is real goodwill towards an England bid (despite the London rain) and we should be really proud of the excellence of the proposal we are making.