Right On The Money, Mr Blatter!

[Fast Eddie]

Following on from the thread about whether the Premier League is starting to lose it's appeal, Sepp Blatter has expressed his growing concerns about the direction the world game is taking. It's a cracking read, he's spot on and it's good to know that the ruling bodies are taking a concern in the growing threats to the future of the sport. Now what is he going to do about it?

Taken from Sportinglife

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."

I wonder who he could be talking about throwing around 'pornographic' amounts of money? And the player who was holding out for 120k rather than take 100k? (perfect description of Rio, isn't it?)

[COBBER]

If Sepp Blatter is the head of the governing body of football why isnt he doing something about it. Other sports have managed to put the brakes on player transfers and salleries.

Its very easy to point the finger at the players and agents but if the administraters were not offering these absurd amounts of money, you would not have this problem

[mrbojangles]

It's a bit of "Closing the gate after the Horse has bolted" to me. The precident should have been set years ago.

[ProfessorFart]

Blatter is somewhat of a fool.

IF his organisation can't even have the seedings ready for next years WC organised ready for the end of the qualifying rounds, then I can't see how he can convince everyone to take a pay cut.

[Sarpedon]

Its very easy to talk about it but another thing completely to do something about it! From what Blatter has done and talked about in the past i am soemwhat cynical about this latest outburst from him.

He has been quite arrogant and ignorant in the past, and as i have read on other forums some are saying that he is more worried about the lack of control FIFA has over someone like Abramovich who seems immune to the effects of FIFA. I would certainly agree with this.

Also, isnt it a bit late to be pointing this out now...they would have seen the trend heading this way a long time ago and could have dome something about it already.

[Fast Eddie]

It's never too late to bring in new regulations if it is in the best interests of the game.