I am enjoying some sunshine in Spain but was delighted to learn of the arrest of seven prominent FIFA officials yesterday by U S and Swiss authorities for bribery and corruption.
The running of the global game has stunk for years, not unlike cycling where it eventually unwound once opened. I am praying that more evidence quickly comes to light and further arrests follow. Sepp Blatter's re-election as President must now be stopped by those untainted within the organisation, if there are enough of them. The ridiculous and highly questionable decision to award Quatar the 2022 World Cup will again come under intense scrutiny and it would be good to see that changed for the benefit of the World Cup's travelling fans. The logic of awarding the tournament to a tiny desert state with no football league or any players was astonishing when there are plenty of other footballing nations yet to have their turn.
I was particularly pleased to see the Americans involved in the arrests. They have a good track record in exposing global financial fraud and making it stick. The accusations against the seven arrested are of bribery to the tune of c £96m - real incentive to affect your decision-making. The mind boggles where this could go if many more are implicated.
Meanwhile, back in SE7 there has been very little to report apart from our name being linked with a lot of possible suspects. Recent experience would suggest we are interested in most of the European ones and possibly a couple of the domestic ones. None of the names have my pulse racing and I will only be bothered once deals are done. My guess is we may see one or two of our bigger names leaving us in the next couple of weeks as players return from extended holidays and other clubs move before us to do their transfer business.
The running of the global game has stunk for years, not unlike cycling where it eventually unwound once opened. I am praying that more evidence quickly comes to light and further arrests follow. Sepp Blatter's re-election as President must now be stopped by those untainted within the organisation, if there are enough of them. The ridiculous and highly questionable decision to award Quatar the 2022 World Cup will again come under intense scrutiny and it would be good to see that changed for the benefit of the World Cup's travelling fans. The logic of awarding the tournament to a tiny desert state with no football league or any players was astonishing when there are plenty of other footballing nations yet to have their turn.
I was particularly pleased to see the Americans involved in the arrests. They have a good track record in exposing global financial fraud and making it stick. The accusations against the seven arrested are of bribery to the tune of c £96m - real incentive to affect your decision-making. The mind boggles where this could go if many more are implicated.
Meanwhile, back in SE7 there has been very little to report apart from our name being linked with a lot of possible suspects. Recent experience would suggest we are interested in most of the European ones and possibly a couple of the domestic ones. None of the names have my pulse racing and I will only be bothered once deals are done. My guess is we may see one or two of our bigger names leaving us in the next couple of weeks as players return from extended holidays and other clubs move before us to do their transfer business.
Be interesting to see how McDonalds, VISA, etc, look at this.
ReplyDeleteWould love to see them pull the plug.
A mass genocide would be nice.
Could do with the temperature clicking up a few degrees.
The in-laws pool still takes a few minutes to get used to.
Blatter can't survive this. The pool here is like the Ice Bucket challenge....
ReplyDeleteObviously, those arrested so far is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm actually pleased that Blatter got re elected, it's going to be superb entertainment watching that arsehole (and his tainted supporters) squirm over the coming weeks/months. I see one of those arrested has already played the race card, No surprise there.
ReplyDeleteAs everybody has known for years, FIFA is a massive corrupt gravy train, so why have so many national governing bodies (including ours) not made a determined and moral stance ages ago. The shake out is going to be compelling viewing, much better than that truly awful Premiership we have just witnessed.
PH
PH - yes mate , looking forward to it. The CEO of any organisation that size would have fallen on their sword following the arrest of a ring of corrupt leaders and the obvious threat of more. The accounting must be suspect with the size of the sums reputedly involved. The fact that a 79 year old is that desperate to cling on and that there are so many country representatives willing to back him tells you all you need to know.Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteMany to jail and Quatar must be reversed....
Regards
Dave.