The message was delivered by Jack Warner, the controversial vice-president of Fifa, as England prepared to take on his native Trinidad & Tobago in Port-of-Spain in a match widely seen as having been arranged solely to court his support.

 

Warner said his an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live: "England has never been viewed as part of Europe.

 

"England should reintegrate back into Uefa and then that bond, fellowship and togetherness will be there."

 

Warner's comments come just a few days after Italy announced that they were backing Australia's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

 

They also echo those made by Chuck Blazer, the American member of FIFA's 24-man ruling executive committee, and reported on insidethegames in October 2007.  

 

Blazer claimed that last time England bid, for the 2006 World Cup, nearly every European member voted for Germany.

 

The Football Association are hoping that with Warner publicly backing their campaign this time they will be more successful as they seek host the World Cup for the first time since 1966.

 

Warner said: "The catalyst of my support for England for the bid for 2018 is because I don't believe any country of England's football pedigree should not have a World Cup for almost 50 years.

 

"England, a country that invented the sport and with all the facilities England has, has not hosted a World Cup and I think it is wrong.

 

"It is against this background that I supported England for 2006.

 

"In 2006, when England only had five votes, I gave them three.

 

"I said to Tony Banks (leader of England's 2006 bid) then that they will not win the bid because they didn't have European support.

 

"Even now, if England gets support from outside, she still needs at least two or three people in Europe to give support."

 

Warner also urged England officials to give David Beckham a key role in the bid in the same way that London 2012 did during its successful bid to host the Olympics.

 

Beckham appeared in films on behalf of the bid and travelled to Singapore for the final decision in July 2005.

 

Warner said: "England has to try to remove or reduce what people perceive to be arrogance - rightly or wrongly.

 

"What England needs is to have somebody like a David Beckham to be its ambassador out there to sell the idea.

 

"Beckham is loved by all.

 

"Beckham is like Pele and therefore use him to sell the idea.

 

"If these things are done and done quickly, I don't see a problem."