Blatter resigns

[FanchesterCity]

UEFA is every bit as dodgy.

I'm not sure if the FA is dodgy or just incompetent.

[moof]

I'm not sure if the FA is dodgy or just incompetent.

Can they be both?

[FanchesterCity]

Can they be both?

 

very probably!

[Ginny]

The FBI must be all up in his shit.

[Trumo]

In his speech, Blatter talked about the changes and reforms that were necessary and how he had pushed for them only to be repeatedly knocked back by the executives and the FIFA political structure. He didn't push for change at all. Instead he instigated the very structure that both prevented these reforms from happening as well as kept him in power. Too many people had too much to lose by going against him so they preferred to remain on the Blatter/FIFA gravy train and roadblock every measure they perceived to be a threat to their status. For example, he says he wanted to limit the number of terms for executives as well as presidential mandates. This is a guy who recently won a fifth term in office! These people really do live in a bubble.

[G Richards]

I suspect he's resigned in order to receive more lenient treatment as justice is meted out. Or, he has tons of money and wants to scarper to a non-extradition country quickly before he is arrested. I would imagine he is planning to live out the rest of his days in luxury. I think his undoing will be his arrogance. He will fly too close to the flame and the Feds will nab him.

[kalasoma]

Somebody snitched

 

Sepp Blatter under investigation by US officials as part of Fifa corruption inquiry, reports say

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-32986950

[magicrat]

Somebody snitched

 

Sepp Blatter under investigation by US officials as part of Fifa corruption inquiry, reports say

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-32986950

 

 

I expect that over the last few days the reality of his untenable position has sunk in, The revelations will keep coming and he must be under serious threat of being arrested if he travels

[RoboRiise]

He's fucked.  Completely and utterly fucked.

 

This is exactly how I hoped it would all pan out last week when the news of the FBI involvment came out because this is how they roll.  Start at the bottom (relatively speaking in this case) and work upwards, leveraging whatever they have on someone to get them to implicate the next and so on until they roll up the whole organisation.  They've been doing it to organised crime syndicates (which is essentially what FIFA has become) for years.

 

My only worry was whether they'd hit the wall when they got to someone at say Warner's level of seniority and find that they weren't prepared to spread the shit any further upwards.  I guess the difference between cocaine cartels, mafiosi etc. and FIFA though is that unlike the first two, FIFA delegates don't actually have the fear of their entire familes being executed as a motivator to keep quiet.

 

What a terrible shame for them all.  I can't stop laughing.

[Jairzinho]

100% he fakes his own death next.

[FanchesterCity]

He's either been tipped off, or they've cut him a small deal.... GTFO now, or we'll be your worst nightmare.

 

Maybe he's even turned grass!... but even that'll be artificial knowing him.

[FanchesterCity]

100% he fakes his own death next.

 

Former FIFA man's head to be used as the match ball for Qatar World Cup opening fixture.

[Dr Nowt]

Sepp Blatter, earlier.  (Video posed by model).

 

[Ne Moe Imya]

As I see it, this will go one of two ways from here (or possibly some combination of the two):

 

1 - If this was down to a revolt of the sponsors, then FIFA will simply appoint another long-time FIFA executive and the gravy train will resume operation shortly, minus Blatter.  This would be what I'd expect if Blatter's resignation was down to the likes of VISA, Coca-Cola and Budweiser calling up everyone in FIFA and saying "We're pulling our sponsorships if Blatter stays."  If this is what's happened, they will wait until the media furore dies down, hold a new election that is more covertly corrupt and elect someone else whose main qualification will be "can get the bribes to us more inconspicuously."

 

2 - If this was really down to the FBI investigation, then FIFA could completely implode.  If Blatter's resignation really was motivated by the fact that top officials are rolling over and cooperating with US authorities to avoid/minimise prosecution, then it could all come apart.  If this one is the case then they might just have a chance to kick in the rot and have the whole structure collapse, including a revote on Qatar and the replacement of pretty much everyone in power in a lot of the FAs.  I'll be really surprised (pleasantly so, to be sure) if it goes this far.

 

Sadly, though, as we all know, the way the world works pretty much guarantees that no matter what happens, the people with money will be making all of the important decisions for the rest of us within a few years.  The best we can hope for is a few years of relative transparency and honest elections and decisions about tournaments before they figure out a way to make the bungs respectable/hidden enough to be ignored by the media again.

[SOFTLAD]

 Platini too similar to Blatter, seem to remember a couple of seasons ago he wasn't to complimentary about our supporters or club, there's a bad smell of him as well.

[Iceman]

Twattini also said it was impolite to give back 20,000 dollar watches that were 'gifts'. I'm sure his hands are as clean as snow with dogshit all over it. 

[DJLJ]

Trying to pin it on the dead guy, while someone had already shown the fbi a letter detailing that the right hand man was implicated. Blatter is totally fucked, just hope the whole thing nowimplodes and something new is rebuilt on the ashes.

[RoboRiise]

100% he fakes his own death next.

 

That would be terrible.  Faking it.

[SammyAftershave]

It's quite amusing to observe the faux outrage of the FA while grasping for the moral high ground in all this. Upset that their world cup bid spearheaded by paragons of virtue such as Lord Coe, David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince Baldyhead, not to forget Greg (the gold Watch) Dyke went tits up,

it would appear that the contents of the handbags they offered wer'nt sufficiently stuffed and they sadly lost out to their competitors in the world cup bids. Hopefully now that the wound has been scratched they will have to publicly justify why they were offering 'handbags' to bribe votes in the first place.

I'd give a penny for the thoughts of Mike Newell who not so long ago blew a whistle on the domestic shenanigans of the FA in a Panorama investigation and found himself swiftly frozen out of the game.

One thing we can be sure of is that if the current shower of pigs at the trough are forcibly removed they will be instantly replaced by another.

Business as usual.

[Paco]

Have to laugh ay the hypocrisy of alan brazil on talksport saying how he d boycott the russia world cup because of corruption while he runs around with the bankers who were facilitating the illegal payments.

[manwiththestick]

It's starting to come out now. FIFA paid the Irish Fa 5M to stop them pursuing the Henry handball.

[FanchesterCity]

In one man's eyes it's being paid off to not go to court (which sounds bad)

In another's eyes, it's an out of court settlement (which sounds more reasonable)

 

However, the thing that galling me is the pitiful 3m paid.

 

I'm sure the NDA's in place would prevent either side discussing the settlement, and that's 'normal', but it's not good for transparency is it?

 

It's the same situation with City / PSG last year and UEFA... it's all behind closed doors and 'compromise agreements' put in place. Nobody really knows what 'deals' were made. That's not saying anything untoward did or didn't happen, but until there's more transparency, the game's doomed.

 

There's too much wheeling and dealing at the very top of the game, and you can bet your shirt the entire stench of corruption goes well beyond just FIFA.

[Trumo]

There's too much wheeling and dealing at the very top of the game, and you can bet your shirt the entire stench of corruption goes well beyond just FIFA.

 

100%. All the people in positions of influence within the organisation are involved at the top of the game in their respective countries and/or politics at national or international level. Deal-making, back-scratching and currying favours is all "part of the dance". I realise that recourse to such actions can be necessary to get things done but by and large, they are done either to preserve or gain power. Anything that happens that could be identified as genuinely positive progress is merely a bonus from their main goal. 

[Dr. J]

The question is how much does corruption affect what happens on the pitch. More than a few World Cup qualifiers and finals matches have raised a few eyebrows.

[FanchesterCity]

The question is how much does corruption affect what happens on the pitch. More than a few World Cup qualifiers and finals matches have raised a few eyebrows.

 

Sometimes I think it's just too difficult to influence much on the pitch, even though I accept refs and the odd player might be willing to give a penalty etc, but then is that being complacent to think that way?

 

Then I think other stuff like CL draws might be bent, but again, it's not that easy to fix... or is it?

 

A few years ago, when Chelsea played Barca, I was 100% convinced it had been fixed in Barca's favour - entirely down to the ref. I know it's Chelsea, but it just looked incredibly iffy. It was the game where Drogba was screaming it was bent at the camera. It's not often players do that.

 

It has to have happened in a World Cup or CL game somewhere.