SLIPPERY SEPP CREEPS HOME
Blatter claims ‘nobody’s perfect’ after election win But FA chief Dyke insists he ‘cannot survive’
SEPP BlattEr was a dead man walking last night despite FIFa’s electorate voting to retain him as president for another four years. Blatter, severely wounded by the corruption scandals that have engulfed FIFa this week, defeated a weak opponent in Prince ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan by a much smaller margin than would have been the case before Meltdown Wednesday.
after an excruciating booth- style voting procedure lasting almost two hours because the USa objected to an electronic ballot, Blatter emerged the winner by 133 votes to 73. although it was seven short of the twothirds majority needed for a first-round victory, ali withdrew from the contest.
remarkably, 79- year- old Blatter still carried the day despite worldwide public revulsion over the length of f the FIFa crime-sheet on his watch, the old rogue saying: ‘I want to fix x FIFa together with you, now, tomorrow, the day after, and in the weeks to come, so I can hand over a strong FIFa.
‘We will start tomorrow morning. What is this notion of time. time is infinite and we slice it up. the more one ages the more time flies quickly. What football needs right now is a strong and experienced leader.
‘ I would l i ke to express myy gratitude to Prince ali. He has obtained a very good result. But I will be in command of the good boat FIFa for the next four years. I promise you I will give a robust FIFa to my successor. I like myy job but I’m not perfect, nobody’s perfect. let’s go FIFa.’
Blatter might say he has all the time in the world. But UEFa is leading a hungry pack of attack k dogs who are going to hunt himm down sooner rather than later. theyy are adamant that he cannot go on n leading world football’s governing body after the crimes committed during a serial fraud culture in FIFa over the last 24 years.
UEFa’s 54 countries are meeting in Berlin on thursday and Friday ahead of the Champions league final, when they will decide their next move. the options include withdrawing all UEFa representatives from FIFa — as England’s David Gill has already done — calling for a motion of no confidence in Blatter at an Extraordinary General Meeting, or even exiting the World Cup and every other FIFa competition.
Fa chairman Greg Dyke said: ‘there would be no point pulling England out if everyone else stays in. It would have no impact. It would just be forgotten. But if you could pull UEFa out, that might have an impact. that should be discussed.
‘ the evidence the americans produced was devastating and I don’t think Blatter can survive that. He might have survived this weekend but I don’t think he can survive in the long-term. During his period in charge, the level of corruption has been unacceptable. It’s just frightening.
‘this is not over by any means. to quote the US attorney General (loretta lynch): “this is the beginning of the process, not the end”. the idea that Blatter can reform FIFa is suspect — I would be very surprised if Mr Blatter was still in this job in two years’ time.’
republic of Ireland chief executive John Delaney said: ‘I don’t think Sepp will survive long. It all seems like a mafia movie if it wasn’t so serious.’
and the noose is tight around Blatter’s neck due to the scope of the criminal inquiries into wholesale FIFa wrongdoing, both in his homeland of Switzerland and, more importantly, by US investigators who have already indicted 18 personnel over £100million worth of bribes and kickbacks.
More FIFa whistleblowers are likely to implicate Blatter, but he will not go quietly, as he demonstrated before the vote. He implied the corruption bombshell was a Western conspiracy because things would have been different if two countries other than russia and Qatar had been awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
He was referring to England, whose media led the anti-Blatter agenda, and the USa, whose FBI and other i nvestigative and prosecution agencies have exposed FIFa as being rotten to the core. Blatter said: ‘If two other countries had emerged from those envelopes in 2010, we would not have these problems. But we can’t go back in time, we are not prophets. We can’t say what would have happened.
‘It is not good that all this emerged two days before the Congress. I’m not going to say coincidence but I do have a small question mark.’
Blatter made pleas for FIFa to unite to clean itself up, claiming he couldn’t be responsible for every misdemeanour. He said: ‘I am being held accountable for the current storm. OK I will take it. I will accept this responsibility. But no man can do it alone. the ExCo committee is our government. We must share. You are all ambassadors.
‘let us repair what has blown down. let us show the world we can run FIFa together. let the boat go placidly into port.’
Prince ali had also been full of promises but his speech was poorly delivered and didn’t take the fight to Blatter. He said: ‘FIFa does not exist in a bubble. there could not be a more defining moment in time. We have heard questions as to whether our family is morally bankrupt. Our path must be led by a culture that empowers transparency and accountability.
‘I will take full responsibility. FIFa is not a company, it is a service organisation. I commit to being fair, transparent, open and accessible. We must speak with one voice to change FIFa for the better — we are hungry for the world’s respect. I will fight to honour every promise.’
after withdrawing, ali said: ‘I would like to thank everyone brave enough to support me.’ they included the four home nations.
this was a third successive day of turbulence inside and outside the Hallenstadion venue during a week of tremors that have shaken FIFa to its very foundations.
a bomb scare in the Congress Hall forced an evacuation while police and sniffer dogs swept the building.
Outside, Palestine supporters demonstrated against Israel remaining in FIFa but inside the Palestinian Fa dropped their suspension proposal. Palestine and Israeli chiefs shared an awkward handshake.
One female protestor gained entry to shout ‘red card for FIFa’ before Blatter called for security to remove her. there was another demo by the Congress entrance over the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar.
Blatter was still standing despite the carnage all around him — but the question is, for how long?