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Credit: http://www.soccernet.com FIFA president Sepp Blatter has vowed to stop 'greed ruling the world of football' and launched a blistering attack on hugely-wealthy club owners he claims are threatening the future of football. In an astonishing column in the Financial Times, the FIFA president says the 'pornographic amounts of money' being thrown around by some club owners could suffocate the game. Blatter said: 'A fortunate few clubs are richer than ever before. What makes this a matter of concern is that, all too often, the source of this wealth is individuals with little or no history of interest in the game, who have happened upon football as a means of serving some hidden agenda. 'Having set foot in the sport seemingly out of nowhere, they proceed to throw pornographic amounts of money at it. What they do not understand is that football is more about grass-roots than idols; more about giving entertainment and hope to the many than bogus popularity to a predictable few; more about respecting others than sating individual greed, whether for adulation or money.' Blatter insists a new FIFA task force set up to deal with corruption and multiple ownership issues will deal with the excesses. He adds: 'This cannot be the future of our game. FIFA cannot sit by and see greed rule the football world. Nor shall we. 'The time has come to take action to curb the excesses and ensure that the sport protects its roots. 'If nothing is done, this new money could suffocate a sport that has no fewer than 1.3billion active followers around the world. 'The professional game is now shot through with practices that, at best, expose the ugly side of club football and, at worst, threaten its very existence.' Blatter says the practice, in Latin America especially, of speculators buying the commercial rights to promising child players is unacceptable and a 'new form of slavery'. He also attacks players and agents for demanding 'insane' wages, saying: 'Equally unacceptable are the sort of wage negotiations that can produce the spectacle of semi-educated, sometimes foul-mouthed, players on £100,000 a week holding clubs to ransom until they get, say, £120,000. 'More often than not, these players are guided in these endeavours by unsavoury agents. 'It is simply insane for any player to 'earn' £6million-£8million a year when the annual budget of even a club competing in the UEFA Champions League may be less than half that. What logic, right or economic necessity would qualify a man in his mid-20s to demand to earn in a month a sum that his own father - and the majority of fans - could not hope to earn in a decade?' Blatter also blames the influx of hugely-wealthy owners for causing football to become predictable. 'Unlimited cash has given a handful of club owners the wherewithal to control the global club game by splashing unimaginable sums on a tiny group of elite players. More than ever before, the majority are fighting with spears, while the greedy few have the financial equivalent of nuclear warheads. 'No wonder empty seats in stadiums and saturation live television coverage of matches have become issues. What is interesting about a league whose champions can be predicted with confidence after about five games? 'Why is it good for football to take the excitement away from fans by overcharging them for tickets to see 'their' team? And is it really still 'their' team when one club in England has a squad with 19 nationalities? 'What we are faced with today is a football society of haves and have nots.'

"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery none but ourselves can free our minds" Think about it dude.....it's deep. *cough*"Arctic Monkeys rule"*cough* Sorry, what d'you say?

Liverpool is a port city.Port cities all around the world have their own distinctive identity such as Marseille.A major reason for Liverpool being so distinctive is that most of the people in the city are of Irish descent.The city was built on slavery and famine.The Irish were hardly flavour of the month with the establishment and the other groups that came to the city in numbers such as the Welsh,the Scots,the Chinease and Africans weren't loved either.The reason that alot of the media hates us is because Scousers don't give a shit what they write about us and because we stick the two fingers up at them with our success.

Ah Nick, Ive missed our chats about Figo. Still convinced he wont join, good, I was worried that you'd change your tune while I was away ! :tease: And I was int he Algarve, I could have popped by. Anyway, unless slavery has been allowed again, then it dont matter a jot what Madrid want. If Figo wants us, (as I think I said to you a few hundered posts ago!) he will join us. I think Paul or Mr Brown said it in the oringinal Figo thread, why agree a deal with us, sign it off, come out to the press with all this ' its my Dream to play for LFC' stuff, then change your mind just cos it suits madrid ? I cant see it mate. Madrid want a replacement and Figo wants a bit of a sweenter from Madrid to make up the difference between what he was on, and what we'll pay him. about 30k a week I think. Have you seen a direct quote from Figo saying, 'its my dream to pay for inter' ? or even a quote where Figo mentions Inter ? Like I said before, Figos comments last weekend were a 'look if you dont let me go, Im gonna sit in your ressies and take my pay' nudge to em to get it on.

Excellent. I shall shortly be inviting applications for the post of General of Africa. I think the solution to all their problems is the re-introduction of slavery. I intend to turn the whole continent into a vast playground for the rich and famous. Some of the indigenous population will be offered menial jobs in the new british style bars and restaurants, and the rest will be politely asked to leave. Failure to comply (and be jolly happy about it) will be regarded as act of terrorism and or vegetarianism, and they will be executed in accordance with the law.

You are aware slavery has been abolished?

That was over a hundred years ago FFS. Are you telling me that slavery in the 19th century is responsible for African poverty in the 21st century?

You're being ironic, right? If not, this is without doubt the biggest piece of turdshit you have ever posted on this forum. People who have had a sustainable way of life in their villages are having their communities destroyed by the false promises made to their young of a better way of life. They move to the cities where they get supposedly great jobs in call centres or sweatshops. What little they make is often sent back to try and help the families left behind, who no can no longer maintain their crops as the generation who would have taken it over have moved. The rest is used to pay for their luxury 10-to-a-room accomodation and some fucking rice so they don't starve. If they injure themselves there is no health service to treat them, they are too scared to try to claim comensation, and if they cannot continue they are fucked off back to their villages, where they cannot make a contribution. Those that stay are in such poverty that they will never know the luxury of being able to buy computers, clothes, cars, or even a fucking bar of chocolate. Call it what you want but it boils down to slavery. Fact.

It is a perfect analogy BCP. I do not doubt that there is terrible suffering that has been brought about by the Tsunami but every time I see the effort going in to helping the more westernised south-east asia it just makes the neglect of Africa all the more apparent. The US are a lost cause, it is a gangrenous sore on the face of the world. The fact that Bush is not even war mongering for the isolationary concerns for his nation but for the love of cash makes the transparent evil even harder to take. We live in a world where the World Bank acts as like a back street loan shark lending money to argentina with ties that leave the country open to be savaged of it's resources by western companies. With helpful agencies like this we can expect nothing other than corruption from the leading world powers for the near future. Millions die of aids so that big pharmasuticals can keep their profts up. People in modern slavery both in the developing and western world as multi-nationals dictate legislation to thier paid off government friends. People bombed for oil (then voted in for a second term). oh well, happy days.

Steve H was banned for gas chamber jokes/Holocaust shite. A Jew, a lapsed Catholic and TomR walk into a bar. Samuel L Jackson is there. TomR says what up? Sammy says, 'Yo, Ni**er!'. Carroll fumbles the ball, the Jew says, "Damn, the Yiddos have been done by a bent ref". The lapsed Catholic apologizes for the Crusades, slavery, inaction during the Holocaust and Mo Johnston. TomR says the sweattie manager bought the ref. Now, spot the racist.......

Its a little bit off topic, and our posts are very similar Tom (who'd have thunked it) but Islam now and down the centuries has been extremely tolerant of other religions. During the crusades, for example, when the Ottomans used to take Christian cities they kiled minimum people and allowed the Churches to remain and the people were left to worship their 'God' in peace. Basically similar to what BCP said about religions being a form of morality. To worship something so fully must you must have the right morals. On the other hand when Islamic cities were captured by the Christians the places were risen to the ground. Most of the men would be butchered or sold into slavery, the women raped and the Mosques (sp?) were destroyed. There would be no worshipping 'false gods'! BCP is very correct when he says ALL religins contain important elements of truth and are an attempt at enlightenment but its when an individual himself tries to control a religion. As much as Pope JP seems a decent human being, how can he possibly sit there and pretend he is infallible and tell third world countries not to use contraception? Possibly, the cynics amongst us may say, its because he doesnt want the vaticans gold walls to be taken down to help CAFOD. The more 'savages' die of AIDS the less money the church will have to give up. Give to the Good Shepherd? He's fucking loaded and hasnt been arsed with his sheep for a long long time. The bible is the biggest piece of propoganda since UTDPLC started making their match day programmes. Id like to have 'Faith' but i think my faith is in the inherent goodness of mankind. Not in some 'business' that tells us who and what we should be worshipping.