Andy Anson knows Ferguson from his days as the commercial director of United, and is banking on the Scot supporting the bid for the tournament.

England head coach Fabio Capello has already signed up as a bid vice-president, as has David Beckham. Anson, who leaves tennis body the ATP to take over as bid chief executive in January, also warned that England's status as early favourites to host the 2018 tournament is one of the biggest dangers threatening their chances.

Asked if Ferguson had offered his support, Anson said: "Not yet - clearly we would like him to. I hope and I trust that he will."

England have been regarded as early front-runners but Anson fears that could lead to complacency.

He added: "Being favourites is great but actually doesn't mean anything.

"For me that's one of the biggest dangers and that's one of the key risks I want to be sure we are aware of.

"There is a danger in being the favourite that it can lead to complacency and I don't think we can afford to be at all complacent.

"Watching the [London 2012] Olympic bid unveil as it did, coming from a position of underdog was actually a nice place to come from."

The campaign is being run by the Football Association and there has already been some dissatisfaction expressed that the Premier League have not been given enough of a role on the bid board.

United chief executive David Gill is one of the board members, but there has been no place for Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards nor chief executive Richard Scudamore.

Anson accepted that there was a need for unity.

He said: "I agree that the involvement of the Premier League is critical. I have a good relationship with Richard Scudamore so I intend to spend time with him to make sure he's on board.

"I don't think we should create distance, I think having the strongest league in the world is a strong thing to have in your bag.

"I do think the Premier League is important through its global appeal, and our stadia and infrastructure give us a good starting point although I'm not saying they are perfect."

Memories of England's disastrous bid for the 2006 finals are still fresh in many minds, and Anson said lessons had been learned from last time.

"Being confident is essential but not being arrogant is equally essential," he said.

"The one thing we can't afford to do is say it's our turn for the World Cup.

"The first thing we need to do is manage expectation level. Obviously there is a huge buzz of excitement around the bid and the prospect of England hosting the World Cup.

"But I think what we need now is to have a short period of time when we figure out what we want our bid to be about and figure out our strategy before we start moving forwards aggressively with the bid.

"We need to exceed any expectations about what our bid can be about and make it as exciting, creative and original as possible so that there is a wow factor associated with it."