FIFA Bureaucrats Arrested, to be extradited to US

No clue what that comment is meant to mean...but if you think the USA should have 6X the voting rights/power within FIFA than the UK, or Germany or Spain or Italy then you are totally foolish.

 

I'm saying for a non-footballing country, we are sure faring better in the international game than old blighty. Not sure how you get from my comment a rationale to get 6 votes to England's one... I believe I clearly laid out some options for General Congress voting, none of which specify population as a driver.

 

How about a points system based on 10 points per no of world wars and 2 points per world cup.

 

It's time for FIFA to pack up and feck off.

There needs to be a new, non profit making world body which is staffed by the heads of the associations in each country. When a country is awarded the world cup the head of the association in the country becomes the head of the world body for the preceding 4 years. Countries should not be able to host the world cup twice within 5 rotations.
It should be one country one vote, it's the only fair way to give emerging countries a fighting chance.

There is no need for a massive governing body overseeing world football. Just the heads of each country deciding between them how football should be run.

 

How about you stop ******* about making bollox comments here and do a job in Werewolf?

 

I completely disagree. It should be one country one vote.

 

Bang on. TV money gets split evenly per country regardless of size etc, and that money can only be spent on football-related matters - and not salaries. Where that money goes needs to be transparent, public information.

There should be no salary for members of the world body. Expenses only.

Plus, all football associations should publish audited accounts every year to be allowed entry into the WC.

 

I read somewhere recently that football is now the third largest spectator sport in the US, and that average gates in professional football exceed those n Argentina, Brazil and the Champinship.

So whlle I'm happy to deride their bizarre pronunciation of football as "sarkur" and am concerned that if they get to dominate the sport we'll end up with bigger goals, four 25-minute quarters to allow for more advertising breaks and unlimited substitutions, I don't think we can still say that the US isn't a footballing country. Particularly now that we owe them an enormous debt of gratitude.

 

Do you have a shred of evidence for this? And BTW, have you ever read the Sunday Times?

 

Why? It's not even countries it is principalities and states and dependencies and all manner of bodies having a vote. Faroe Islands are an example...should they genuinely have as much sway over world football as Germany or Brazil?

 

Sorry, I was a bit hasty. I'm not sure exactly what the voting system should be, but it shouldn't stray far from one country one vote. We'd need to safeguard against one group being able to effectively elect their own president. I'd suggest that it would be difficult not to give Europe too much power if the voting system changed in accordance with a few suggested criteria.

I just think the smaller nations have a very important role to play, and if FIFA is to be a truly global body, you need to give them actual power.

I haven't thought hard about it, and I'm backtracking I know.

 

That's what sting operations do. They're Fleet street's equivalent of a bait car.

I've not read the whole article nor seen the whole documentary but why would I need their own biased opinions? They certainly aren't going to say "hands up it was our fault!"! ... Fifa's reaction tells me all I need to know.

And my #328 post says everything I need to say. Try and pick holes in that if you wish.

And while you're here: Why do you keep defending the monster that is the British press? Do you work for them? Are you part of the problem?

 

The problem is that FIFA members such as Montserrat and Gibraltar both get the same money from a World Cup as Spain, England, Germany etc. I'm not sure how the national leagues are setup in those places but I do know that the population of the non-country Montserrat is around 6,000. I don't believe it is possible for the money they receive to be spent on footballing related matters and this is where the problem with equal sharing is and why small countries will happily keep the status quo as long as their cheque arrives.

 

Fifa's own ranking's algorithms are actually well thought out and are pertinent. It wouldn't be particularly difficult to include them in new "weight of vote" ones.

 

FIFA has more members than the UN!

 

No I don't work for the press. I am however a news junkie, and I appreciate papers that give a voice to commentators from all points of view and have a great news-gathering service (I often read stuff in The Times which the BBC news picks up later in the day and the other papers the following day). I loathe the horrible reactionary Daily Mail and the smug, sanctimonious Guardian which makes policymaking sound so easy. The Express is just slightly better. The Telegraph is OK, but a bit too right-wing for me. The Mirror and the Sun aren't really newspapers, they're entertainment guides, but if I had to choose one to read it would be the Mirror.

So I don't have a high opinion of the British press either. But how can you have a biased opinion? You can have biased presentation of the news, of course, and that's what you get less of in The Times and ST than anywhere else. Though I have to admit that they haven't yet published an article by Sepp along the lines of one you might write.

 

Which is what? I'm not defending him or his organisation. I am however attacking your beloved press that lost us any chance of that World cup bid ... This should be the real scandal of the whole affair but somehow you don't read that in the papers. Setting media traps for others to fall into is not and never will be reporting; it is trying to play God just to gain ratings.

 

Do you think Michael Garcia was trying to play God too?

 

You don't need me to answer that ... He's American, that's all you need to know.

 

Yes, if only Distillers were still allowed to sell Thalidomide to expectant mothers, and Asians were still allowed to groom young girls, the world would be a better place.

 

You seem to confuse entrapment with good investigative reporting, they're not even similar.

 

I need some clarification here. Are you suggesting that the role played by a single newspaper article is a bigger scandal than 20 years of FIFA corruption?

 

Godfather, is this you?

 

One is a technique for the other. But if you'd read the many pages of ST stuff, you'll find that somebody inside FIFA was appalled by the goings-on and leaked stuff to the ST under condition of anonymity. Her identity came out (not I think through the ST), and she recanted under threat. She then withdrew her recantation.

Once the Americans got involved, they followed their usual practice of getting crims to rat on their mates through plea-bargaining. Which is how Blazer led to Warner and Warner has now led to Blatter.

But I'm bored with this. You seem to live in a world of yuou own, God - and for that reason, I'm out.

 

It was one single piece of 'news' confirming what we already knew suspected and not all the stuff we're seeing now.

My gripe isn't even that they reported it just the crass stupidity of it's timing and it's lack of respect to all those who had gone to great lengths to ensure our bid was competitive ... If some senior editor ever thought it would enhance our chances then he could not have been more wrong. In that respect it should have been blindingly obvious although had it been about Russian bribery then that would be completely different, unfortunately it wasn't.

 

I'd have delegates from each continental/regional federation based on population. Thus Europe and Africa would have delegates based on the relative populations of Europe and Africa rather than one country, one vote without any regard to population which is a bit ridiculous whether it be Eurovision or FIFA.

No consideration should be given to established v aspiring footballing nations. Every country in the world is a footballing nation.

The US is gaining a higher profile both on the pitch and off it. And they are to be entirely commended for sticking it to FIFA at last when no-one else had the balls to do so.

 

Wake me up when Blatter is behind bars.:sign15:

 

I've admitted in the past that my posts tend to get more 'feisty' if I've consumed some 'sauce' and that admission has been picked up on subsequently. I suspect you are influenced by this factor too Philippine. And I accuse GF of the same too!

 

However all this pans out one thing's for certain. Chuck Blazer's a disgusting, odious toad. The jury's still out on GF!

 

I rarely drink nowadays Kels and almost never at home .... this madness is all my own I assure you.

 

Agreed except I do like the idea of a slightly bigger goal. There are about 2.7 goals per game in the EPL I believe and it's similar in our other leagues too. The US argument is that about 2x that would make for a better spectacle. I agree with them and the easiest way to achieve that, in an age of better organised defences and much bigger goalies, is to make the goal just a bit bigger too.

 

Is this right then? That whatever profit FIFA makes from a World Cup gets divided by 209 and Montserrat get as much as we do? If so, you're quite right - either Montserrat should have some pretty spectacular non-football related infrastructure or someone's pockets are bulging.

 

I've seen it reported several times since the arrests so I guess it's true. It was a reason given for why Blatter got so many votes from the smaller nations.

And all the more reason why, in my opinion, smaller nations should be in a different tier to a sort of G8/G10 when it comes to voting in FIFA. As I said earlier on in this thread, do the likes of the Eritrean FA really care where the World Cup is held or what bribes exchange hands to facilitate it?

 

True, but then they only enter the qualifying rounds - they never reach the final.

Perhaps television money should be split into qualifying and final, or maybe even each game given a tier based on ranking and the money proportioned appropriately to that tier. That way Montserrat v Malta will not receive an unnecessary amount of cash.

As a side note, I wish that we would just shut our mouths with regards to hosting the 2022 games. We come off as desperate, petty sore losers and it demeans the whole FIFA-scandal by giving credence to the Qatar/Russian argument that we are pissy that we didn't win the bid.

 

100% agreed. The best thing the FA can do now is keep quiet.