Blatter escapes Fifa corruption arrests

I donÂ’t know how to write an article so I was hoping TW would open one on the FIFA scandal. Fantastic news.

Was just thinking the same Colin, although my cynical side is also thinking how many of those arrested today were likely to vote against Blatter this week

Hopefully this will open the can of worms that is FIFA Andrew. I canÂ’t see Blatter standing down as the man has no shame. FIFA is one of the most corrupt corporations on earth.

"Sepp Blatter? Del Boy in disguise"
Neville Southall, 2015

Quite astounding series of charges being levied against these Fifa guys.... pretty impressive that the Yanks have grasped this particular nettle. Their IRS investigators are tenacious and simply never give up if they smell a rat.

For too long the people involved at FIFA have thought themselves above and beyond the law of any land, just like the IOC once thought of themselves. The corruption has been there for eons and every nation and police force has ignored it as it became just one of those things and probably some high profile world brands also Â’played the gameÂ’ of palm greasing etc.

Last week I heard that the Brazilan national football squad wasnÂ’t picked on ability alone but rather how marketable each individual player was to the TV companies and sponsors. FIFA should be disbanded completely and a new governing body set up to take its place anything else and we wonÂ’t be able to guarantee that these crimes against the sport will not be repeated.

ItÂ’s not just the FIFA officials who should be facing the beak. IÂ’m waiting for the Qataris and Russians with brown paper packages to be up for a bit of hard labour. Russia with the blessing of the person you cannot name for fear of a radioactive cup of tea apparently raided the Hermitage museum for appropriate paintings during an Â’exchange of giftsÂ’ according to the Sunday Times.

Not just Russia and Qatar. Every World Cup for the last 20 years has had massive construction deals. France, Korea/Japan, Germany, South Africa and Brazil. And nothing dodgy ever happened in the world of construction, ever!

You wonÂ’t see England as host nation as we have all our stadia in place. But even Uefa like a bit of this. France had massive builds for 98 world cup, yet for the smaller Euros next year, sure... why not another four stadiums and five massive upgrades. Kerching!!

Anyway, if they do the dodgy on the big things then why not the smaller... such as a 2005 CL qualification match.

"This is good for Fifa."

Ah... the joy of a positive outlook. Can we see here a future role for Mr Positive himself?

I remember reading that all the I.T. equipment was destroyed after Russia and Qatar were declared winners of the last round of bidding. Incredible.

How can Blatter survive, even if he isnÂ’t implicated? Surely you cannot be President of what is effectively an organised crime syndicate, then be re-elected for another 4 years after numerous arrests have been made?

You would hope the whole world of football will demand his immediate resignation - most of this has taken place whilst he has been head of these Â’untouchables.Â’

The whole rotten organisation should be dismantled. IÂ’ve a feeling he may carry on though, the brass necked old fucker.

As head of failing departments always seem to be asked in this country, Â’were you aware to these failings or are you just incompetentÂ’.

Nick - WeÂ’ll get that cliched "lessons have been learned and processess have been put in place to ensure this type of event doesnÂ’t happen again".....However, the next time a bidding process takes place, hereÂ’s our gift list would you like to donate?

Thank you FBI, IRS, Justice and State departments, CIA and anyone else involved in unmasking these scumbags who have been killing football for years.

Hats off also to the journos of the Sunday Times, FT and Daily Telegraph who for years have uncovered FIFA corruption. IÂ’ve had my rants against journos in the past but these ones, like David Conn, deserve our respect.

I canÂ’t wait to see Blatter and co. behind bars. Uefa, itÂ’s your turn next.

Dodgy world politics go to together with dodgy football outcomes. Same type of people just different attractive outlets to scam.

How can anyone say that Blatter knew nothing? He is the head of Fifa, and is supposed to have control of the organization. After all of his years in charge, with regular reports of alleged corruption, surely he must have read the investigative reports, or, did he just look the other way?

And we complain the way BK runs Everton. (Not saying I am accusing BK of corruption.)

Once the yanks get their teeth into something they are like a dog with a bone. Hopefully, this is just the beginning.

Chuck Blaizer (?) had a manhattan apartment ($4000 a month) for his cats paid for by FIFA. PlatiniÂ’s son got a cushy job in Qatar doing sod all. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Prince Ali will get my vote on Friday.

How on earth can any organisation that still has Jack Warner in its hierarchy hope to retain any sliver of credibility.

Fifa has been on a rapid descent into a moral cesspool ever since Sir Stanley Rous left. Every subsequent President has Â’contributedÂ’ to what we have now.

The whole organisation needs to be totally disinfected or torn down.

Blatter is the physical incarnation of anal leakage. I hope he rots in some state penitentiary whilst enduring unspeakable sausage jockeying.

Good on yer Yanks!

Ooo... the sponsors are getting twitchy. Love this quote from Visa:

Â’Our disappointment and concern with FIFA in light of (WednesdayÂ’s) developments is profound.

Â’As a sponsor, we expect FIFA to take swift and immediate steps to address these issues within its organisation. This starts with rebuilding a culture with strong ethical practices in order to restore the reputation of the games for fans everywhere.

Â’VISA became a sponsor of FIFA because the World Cup is one of the few truly global sporting events with the power to unite people from around the world through a common love of football.

’Our sponsorship has always focused on supporting the teams, enabling a great fan experience, and inspiring communities to come together and celebrate the spirit of competition and personal achievement – and it is important that FIFA makes changes now, so that the focus remain on these going forward. Should FIFA fail to do so, we have informed them that we will reassess our sponsorship.’

The bit in bold is my emphasis. ItÂ’s funny, that... as, years ago, I got told that a dodgy sports marketing company took a backhander to reveal how much Mastercard were paying, so that Visa got in.

Matt – Rats and sinking ships, springs to mind.

I wonder if England were somehow awarded the 2018 or 2022 World Cups, could Everton get a new stadium out of it?

I have an unpleasant feeling that this is going to lead to a complete new organisation to be formed a Monsieur Platini will be the first to stick his hand up to play God.

There is just too much free money in football for there not to be corruption. ItÂ’s OK all these sponsors playing the wounded innocent role but they have gained substantially from the FIFA gravy train.

Take Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Sheffield Utd, Oscar Pistrorius and many more.

Sponsors in cahoots with dodgy people get a huge rise in brand awareness when withdrawing their sponsorship hits the press. No more money to pay and good PR makes it win-win.

I think it's Visa who sponsor the Â’child escortsÂ’ that turn the national anthems in the summer Championships into a marketing exercise. Bollocks to them.

Also, Wembley got two Champions League finals in a row. Someone want to explain that one again?

Patrick (#21), with our track record on stadium development, absolutely.

As long as it wasnÂ’t needed to host any games or anything.

Bill would claim he thought it was the 2118 or 2122 World Cup.

Blatter, in the best mafia tradition, doesnÂ’t use mobile phones, computers or faxes, so the little gnome doesnÂ’t leave a paper trail. Sehr gut Herr Blatter or should I say, Mr. President? This just gets better and betterer.

There is one company that feels it has no problem with sponsoring FIFA – Russian gas firm Gazprom, I wonder why?

Faced with the reality of long custodial sentences, the pigs will spill the beans on Blatter as part of plea bargaining.

I love the name Chuck Blazer for a football official!

Note to self - donÂ’t use American banks and US dollars for bribes. Fair play to the Yanks though, could you imagine any other country doing it? Perhaps the fact that they donÂ’t seriously play football helped.

He could well be a heck of a talent, I wonÂ’t argue with that, and sign him by all means... but we have to make a priority of signings guys that will make a instant impact NEXT season.

We are already talking about loans away for Galloway and Browning so we canÂ’t just become a nursery for babies with potential, sending them out for short term adoption.

ItÂ’s good to have a promising future but the here and now needs taking care of first and foremost.

I can't believe it's taken so long to catch these crooks. This organisation has been on the fiddle for years.

The sad thing is Paul, Ali Blatter will be re-elected tomorrow by his 40 thieves.

Uefa have all the power.

The question however, is do they have the nerve/bollocks to use it.

If Platini simply says (and means it!) "Our teams will not be participating in any World Cup, presided over by a FIFA led by Sepp Blatter", there is no sponsors and so no world cup.

Platini/Uefa has the gun, the choice is fire it or not - if he/theyÂ’re too cowardly to pull the trigger, football probably deserves Blatter.

We all know what Blatter is (so bent if he swallowed a nail, heÂ’s shit out a corkscrew) and we all know FIFA have been Â’at itÂ’ for decades.

ItÂ’s now or never for Uefa - shit or get off the pot.

The problem for me Eugene is that the removal of Blatter alone will not make all of the problems that beset FIFA disappear, but I suppose a fresh leader with strong resolve could rid the organisation of some of its less savoury aspects.

However, Platini and UEFA are hardly the bastions of sporting dignity and integrity and they too enjoy the high-life and power in the European game without any qualms about selling out to the highest paying sponsors, TV Companies et al.

The ramifications of the whole USA investigation could be huge and not just for members of FIFA, I bet there are a fair few clubs who are sitting anxiously by their telephones, hoping they donÂ’t become embroiled in the whole sorry affair.

That would be the ideal scenario Eugene but uefa are another cowardly bunch of hot air blowers. DidnÂ’t PlatiniÂ’s son get a cushy ٟm a year job in Qatar just after they were awarded the world cup?

If the big sponsors e.g. Coke, Budweiser, Adidas, McDonaldÂ’s etc....pull out they will just be replaced by the likes of Gazprom, Mugabe international financial consultants, the North Korean travel board, Fox news etc....

The only way this is going to have a happy ending is if the yanks can get Blatter and his crew into Guantanamo and throw the keys away.

Blatter scrapes through by the skin of his teeth. Corruption lives to fight another day. Sickening.

His time will come Colin. The sooner the better.

Once they start plea bargaining to get reduced sentences the sh*t will hit the fan. I canÂ’t see him lasting too long as as the yanks said, "this is just the beginning. The tip of the iceberg".
CanÂ’t wait to see him behind bars with his cronies.

Over the next few months, look for Blatter to appear in countries without extradition agreements with the US. He knows he can never again set foot in North America.

Interested to see GermanyÂ’s position in the near future. GermanyÂ’s the key. If the Deutsch opt out of FIFA, the dominoes start falling; fast.

James, isnÂ’t he supposed to be going to Canada next month? Expect him to develop some sudden mystery illness before then.

Some so-called experts were saying today that Uefa lacks clout nowadays because we are outnumbered. Can these morons really see a World Cup without England, Germany, France, Spain, Holland etc....?

Who would want to sponsor a tournament without the European powerhouses? WhoÂ’d want to watch it? Without Europe, FIFA is fucked and they know it.

Colin – Have no idea what his schedule is. Canada? Close enough for him to be extradited. For sure, he’s known he can’t get off a plane in the US.

As far as collapsing FIFA? If Germany says "WeÂ’re out" for 2022? All the dominos fall. Not later, immediately.

Sure, Quatar can host some thing called the World Cup. With Europe out, weÂ’ll get to see just how great Atsu really is. So, thereÂ’s that.

IsnÂ’t it the WomenÂ’s World Cup? IÂ’m not sure. Anyway, I doubt heÂ’ll be going anywhere other then Switzerland, Iran and North Korea.

HereÂ’s a great quote from a European paper.

"Cheating and corruption is rife in a game played by cheats." Who would have guessed that?

And we all watch them every week in England and all over the world, so it’s not just Officials who are bent – it’s players, managers and coaches as well, but what doesit matter if your team wins!!!!!

Colin – The world has changed and is constantly changing. 60% of the world's population lives in the Asian bloc and, whilst the usual sponsors are huge global entities, FIFA is aware that other brands will be lining up to replace them with hard cash.

Uefa wonÂ’t pull out of the World Cup and Blatter and company know it; and even if Uefa did pull out, not all European nations will agree and some will want to participate in the tournament.

Blatter also realises that every aspect of football is tainted by corruption etc and very few people or organisations involved with the game are squeaky clean, which is why the whole thing will carry on as it has and a few individuals will be sacrificed for the Â’good of the gameÂ’.

Just watched the BBC Breakfast Show and its little segment about the fans who are singing Abide with Me at Wembley later today, a mixed group proudly wearing their club shirts. How is it when so many club shirts are on view, one shirt in particular is always at the forefront?

It happened at Goodison on C4 earlier in the week when C4 did a small item about grass roots football and the impact of the FIFA scandal, not an Everton shirt on show, probably because of the sponsor being connected with alcohol, but the interview with a woman wearing the Standard Chartered shirt was in full view.

This sort of thing, although pretty minor on the face of it, isnÂ’t accidental and is indicative of a need to push the global brand clubs at every given opportunity. It also reminded me of how bad today would have been if the other lot had beaten Villa in the Semi-Final.

Of course the FIFA delegates didnÂ’t vote for the anti-corruption candidate. It would be like turkeys voting for Christmas!

Blatter has cultivated African & Asian support with highly active support projects in each country. It is not difficult to cast protects at his re-election as sour grapes from the parts of the world that no longer seem to have the power to dominate world football at FIFA level ie Europe. And that is not a bad thing for the wider game.

Anyone who has been involved in a project outside of US & Europe will be familiar with how things get done in those countries – if you don’t play the game you don’t do business.

If UEFA wants to protest it needs to act as one this coming Friday – but be prepared for no-one around the world to care much about corruption when the bigger picture is promotion of the game in 140 countries still developing the game. UEFA will be a big loss to FIFA and the rather lifeless World Cup (as it already is) but politically we will be seen as the losers. Ultimately will it still be the World Cup? Of course not... but it already seems to be a lot more about business than sport.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/29/410653814/fifa-scandal-has-echoes-of-salt-lake-olympic-corruption-crisis

Thomas, What makes you think that business doesnÂ’t get done in Europe and the USA exactly the same way as it gets done in other parts of the world? This post-colonial viewpoint is outdated and is often used as if the Western world has the higher moral ground, which it doesnÂ’t. When large sums of money are at stake the behaviour by all parties and nationalities is pretty much the same worldwide, greedy people are greedy people and if they can get away with making a few bob here and there legally or otherwise they will continue to do so.

Fair point, Patrick, but in my experience the levels of corruption at every level in some African & Asian countries (Nigeria, Bangladesh, India) still far outweigh those I find here. This tends to agree with me:

http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/the-most-corrupt-countries-in-the-world-ranked-in-order--xJUZ5u9j_x

They wonÂ’t nail Blatter. HeÂ’s such a clever and slippery politician who could talk and lie his way out of any situation. A bit like Tony Blair.

Incidentally, he said that he wonÂ’t run in 2019. He said that in 2011 and last year so it wouldnÂ’t surprise me if he held on to power because only the Americans are showing the guts to try and kick this corrupt, despotic dinosaur out.

Will UEFA carry out its threat about a boycott? DonÂ’t think so. Platini the hypocrite was one of the first to hug him despite telling him the day before the election to resign. And he voted for the Qatar World Cup as well.

And as for that standing ovation for that rambling delusional speech, what a joke. ItÂ’s like the whole congress has Stockholm syndrome.

These allegations will get worse in all likelihood but theyÂ’ll never touch Blatter.

Thomas #47. But if Europe pull out of the World Cup, what stance will the WC sponsors take? If they havenÂ’t pulled out already.

And it wouldnÂ’t surprise me if allegations emerged about World Cup corruption. Coriere Dello Sport reported an allegation about match fixing in the 2002 tournament.

I am convinced that the 2002 World Cup was fixed for South Korea to reach the Semis. Italy were blatantly cheated out of the last 16 by suspect refereeing. (Incidentally, the referee that day Byron Moreno of Ecuador, was jailed a few years ago for drug offences.)

Then in the Quarter Final, Spain were cheated as well with 2 perfectly good goals disallowed and several other questionable decisions given against them.

The two ways to hit FIFA and Blatter hard are:

1) UEFA withdraw from FIFA and boycott all tournaments played while he remains in charge. That would render the World Cup in its present format irrelevant and worthless as Europe makes up 13 of the 32 teams.

2) Sponsors withdraw. If Blatter wonÂ’t listen to fellow delegates telling him to resign and world leaders, the loss of millions of pounds would send a loud and clear message. FIFA isnÂ’t a football organisation. ItÂ’s a legalised cash cow, which until now has always been above the law.

If one or both of these things happen, Blatter wonÂ’t last 2 years of his 5th term, maybe even less if these allegations get worse.

I would agree with you Brent and past experience of what looks like a very similar process 10 years ago at the IOC suggests that is key Link

However we can see more politics at play in FIFA already – comments by Russia, comments about a European (for which read read colonial) hatred. But yes I think money is the end game – just might take more than a few months!

Corruption is one thing, but the ever-increasing list of poor Qatar workers dying in the building process to make these arseholes look good is a disgrace.

Dean - That is the type of thing that makes the modern day commercial world so unacceptable to many, workers being treated like slaves anywhere in the world is wrong and nobody should have to work in conditions that are life-threatening unless they are members of the armed forces fighting for their country.

FIFA, UEFA, the numerous FAs donÂ’t care about those who are unable to protect themselves, they sweep aside the poor and dis-enfranchised to keep the illusion that all is well with the world whilst at the same time they have no compunction of living a five-star lifestyle on the back of those people, they canÂ’t solve the problems of the world but they shouldnÂ’t actively exacerbate the issues surrounding the impoverished.

Hundreds and hundreds of migrant workers have died building stadiums for the monsters of Qatar. If Uefa will not act collectively then the FA must act alone. International football is a shameless depravity and the criminals who have made it so should rot in jail .

I was following an online discussion board on Friday and one participant said IF the charges against FIFA are proved then, under the RICO Act, FIFA would be declared an illegal, and criminal enterprise, by the US government and no American owned business, bank or financial institution would be allowed to do business with them. Not only that, but any other business, bank or financial institution could face sanctions by the Yanks.

Yes, thereÂ’d be foreign companies lining up to replace the likes of McDonaldÂ’s, Budweiser and Visa but would they risk their investments and interests in the States? Would they want to be connected to a criminal organisation? The Yanks arenÂ’t messing around here. They mean business.