Blatter wins re-election despite FIFA corruption scandal

[smokie36]

While the odious little toad has gone ,its 5 days too late.He would have known then they were coming after him.He might be corrupt but clever in that he can manipulate people like putty in his hands.Ego may have been his downfall.This is one unholy mess to clean up and before we get too excited the African/Asia block still hold the trump cards.

I would have liked to see David Gill who has deservedly a great reputation and stature throughout Europe be the top man but the African/Asia block would never go down that route.

Pele has lost me,for a man who has lived, and cashed i,n most of his life on his previous reputation...his credibility is now zero.

Totally agree. Something needs to be done about the voting system as well. How can a vote from a tiny place of 6,000 people be counted exactly the same as a country with 600,000,000. Ridiculous.

It's almost as bad as the SNP getting 51 MP's for representing a few million people

The voting system is at the heart of the corruption. Its what makes it tick. Then you have the sponsors. Its their financial backing that made FIFA continue to tick along.

On other points, i'd love to know the smoking gun thats made him resign so rapidly from the arrogant, gloating little turd we watched giving his victory speech last week.

As as for the SNP, they won the 51 seats and fairplay to them. if i were a sweaty i may well have voted for the too but at the end of the day the good lady leading the SNP has a striking similarity to Mrs Krankie that i can't take seriously, she has a massive chip on her shoulder too, all she will do is wind up the Commons and it won't help the jocks. Ask Smokes, he's mad for independence!!!

Its the equivalent of the Tory party being led by the Chuckle Brothers

Lovely morning chaps!

[StevieH]

While the odious little toad has gone ,its 5 days too late.He would have known then they were coming after him.He might be corrupt but clever in that he can manipulate people like putty in his hands.Ego may have been his downfall.This is one unholy mess to clean up and before we get too excited the African/Asia block still hold the trump cards.

I would have liked to see David Gill who has deservedly a great reputation and stature throughout Europe be the top man but the African/Asia block would never go down that route.

Pele has lost me,for a man who has lived, and cashed i,n most of his life on his previous reputation...his credibility is now zero.

Totally agree. Something needs to be done about the voting system as well. How can a vote from a tiny place of 6,000 people be counted exactly the same as a country with 600,000,000. Ridiculous.

It's almost as bad as the SNP getting 51 MP's for representing a few million people

The voting system is at the heart of the corruption. Its what makes it tick. Then you have the sponsors. Its their financial backing that made FIFA continue to tick along.

On other points, i'd love to know the smoking gun thats made him resign so rapidly from the arrogant, gloating little turd we watched giving his victory speech last week.

i'm genuinely hoping that jack warner has grassed him up. he almost certainly must have been dobbed in and tipped off that his own arrest is imminent.

good riddance to the horrible sweaty b*stard but yeah what comes next is the worry - some are making out that platini is a knight in shining armour when he's far, far from it.

[carmine]

The change alone from the man standing at the lectern four days ago to the man announcing he's standing down is admission in itself that he's up to his neck in it. This really is very enjoyable watching as it unravels!

[Chicog]

The change alone from the man standing at the lectern four days ago to the man announcing he's standing down is admission in itself that he's up to his neck in it. This really is very enjoyable watching as it unravels!

Yes, it was fairly obvious by the cackhanded way he called a quick presser and got in and out before most of them could get there that he really did now want to face them!

TBH the next time I want to see him on TV is being driven to the police station.

[kingalfred]

Its so great that the USA legal system has something called"plea bargain" for the guilty to get a reduced sentence in exchange for "bigger fish"

[JetsetBkk]

Its so great that the USA legal system has something called "plea bargain" for the guilty to get a reduced sentence in exchange for "bigger fish"

That's a bit like bribery, isn't it?

[jellydog]

I bet Mr Viagra himself, Pele had wished he kept his stupid trap shut for a further forty-eight hours rather than giving Blatter his full backing saying he was the right man to reform FIFA. What a <deleted>

A positive assessment from Pele is always the kiss of death.

[Chicog]

I bet he's telling her "not tonight love, I've got a headache".

[SantiSuk]

^^ two of the guys in the row behind him are thinking "Covet, covet. If I could extort a bit more out of the next World Cup rights maybe I could afford one of those minxes"

[Chicog]

Shock news from the Fifa Ethics Committee:

FIFA has an Ethics Committee.

What does FIFA stand for?
The Qatari National Anthem.

[jellydog]

I bet he's telling her "not tonight love, I've got a headache".

Asking for a happy ending. Not to be.

[mrbojangles]

This is a nice little read from the investigative reporter who started all of this off and the one responsible for uncovering the IOC.

Andrew Jennings: Meet the man that exposed the Fifa scandal that toppled Sepp Blatter

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/andrew-jennings-meet-the-man-that-exposed-the-fifa-scandal-that-toppled-sepp-blatter-10294970.html

[Chicog]

Now we know why Platini has kept his head down!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2093153/blazer.pdf

[carmine]

I think the man largely responsible for the current investigations, Andrew jennings is going to retire once he's flown over to see See in court and put away but i really think the old boy should continue a little longer to investigate Platini, who looks a favorite to takeover. I personally think he's a crook, and has no place as head of UEFA of FIFA.

I also think his voting for the Qatar bid to be both damning of his integrity and honesty and they should get rid of the french ponce in due process. Oh how he and Sepp were such great mates!!!

[SantiSuk]

Why are football executives like Dyke saying that the lawyers will have to take a view whether to cancel the Russia and Qatar world cups because its all a matter of contract?

I would favour cancelling those two world cups as flawed. If contracts then say that those countries have a claim against FIFA - fine. Let FIFA go bankrupt and pay out the $1.7billion reserves*. Start again - clean slate. Ridiculous to proceed with events that everybody will know were a testament to worldwide corruption on a grand scale and grossly unfait to every other country that participated in the bidding.

*unless of course it is revealed that the contracting parties in Qatar and Russia behaved corruptly (seems quite likely). If those contracts were signed under the laws of say Switzerland I suspect that a contract involving fraud/corruption would be incapable of being sued against by a corrupt party. That would be win-win as far as football and justice is concerned. Officials in Russia and Qatar would be lynched locally (that last bit - probably not, depending on how high up the corruption is pinned!)

[Chicog]

Why are football executives like Dyke saying that the lawyers will have to take a view whether to cancel the Russia and Qatar world cups because its all a matter of contract?

I would favour cancelling those two world cups as flawed. If contracts then say that those countries have a claim against FIFA - fine. Let FIFA go bankrupt and pay out the $1.7billion reserves*. Start again - clean slate. Ridiculous to proceed with events that everybody will know were a testament to worldwide corruption on a grand scale and grossly unfait to every other country that participated in the bidding.

*unless of course it is revealed that the contracting parties in Qatar and Russia behaved corruptly (seems quite likely). If those contracts were signed under the laws of say Switzerland I suspect that a contract involving fraud/corruption would be incapable of being sued against by a corrupt party. That would be win-win as far as football and justice is concerned. Officials in Russia and Qatar would be lynched locally (that last bit - probably not, depending on how high up the corruption is pinned!)

No doubt that the top Qatari knew what was going on. He was paying!

[SantiSuk]

Now we know why Platini has kept his head down!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2093153/blazer.pdf

Bit cryptric that Chicog. To save others the drudgery of trotting though pages of legalese, Chuck Blazer admits to US court in 2013 (sealed from the public gaze until now, presumably as part of a plea bargain) that inter alia:

“Among other things I agreed with other persons … to facilitate the acceptance of a bribe in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup” (took place in France).

Watch out for Platini's resignation later today?

[carmine]

The new head of FIFA should be Andrew Jennings!

On a side note. Many like to slag off Maradona for fairly much any reason they can find but throughout this FIFA corruption atleast he's stood up and slated Blatter rather than the likes of the Kaiser and Pele who should hang their heads in shame. Platini's not much better for that matter. I reckon he only fell out with Sepp because Sepp wouldn't do a deal to hand over power to the frenchie.

[meatboy]

i wonder if an ex.manchester city owner will chuck his name in the hat? with all this talk about coruption.

[smokie36]

Looks like Jack Warner is the squealer.

[carmine]

Looks like Jack Warner is the squealer.

Does, doesn't it. (Mindyou, thats to come because Chuck's doing a fine job at the moment.) Warner's a vile sleazy piece of garbage. So, on that basis, if he keeps in character there will be no holds barred in his grassing up Blatter, Valcke and the others. Although if Warners plea bargain means he's excused serving time then thats a great shame because he really should get sent down. or put down, either fine by me!

[MrMuddle]

[SantiSuk]

Keep up boys. Chuck Blazer squealed 'in camera' under the threat of a Grand Jury in 2013. The public did not get to hear his confessions but the Attorney General's office was in court for the private hearing and presumably took part in the plea bargain. The IRS was also a protagonist in that secret proceeding - Chuck had been cheating on his taxes over his undeclared graft income.

So Blazer was probably the trail-Blazer, who first confessed and gave the US judicial authorities the ammo to carry on stacking up the evidence, which presumably led to the events of earlier this week (or was it last - losing track of time). He's probably been squealing detail like a stuck pig for the last 2 years and Blatter got wind of it or was faced-up to it just a couple of days ago. Jack Warner may or may not have added to the heap of do-do at any time in the last 2 years. Given his initial defensiveness I doubt he was ever the one who got this dung-ball rolling but may have come into the confessions act in the last couple of days.

We will probably never get to know the full story of who grassed up Chuck (maybe traditional IRS anti-avoidance bank sources spotted the cash moving) or how the plea bargain worked and who he has since stuffed up. The Attorney General's office is not the sort to sell stuff to journos or for film rights. Looking forward to the movie whatever!!

At least - that is my take having read that 2013 court proceedings transcript that Chic kindly posted. May be over-reading it.

Chic/Chuck - easy to get confused.

[naboo]

Now we know why Platini has kept his head down!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2093153/blazer.pdf

P28 onwards is a cracking read.

[Chicog]

A lot of it is redacted so as not to prejudice ongoing cases. He was recording conversations in 2012.

Seems the 98 bribe was from Morocco.

[smokie36]

Ireland. Handballs. Potatoes

Heads hung in shame....just disgraceful...not for the handout...but the lack of cheese.

5 million....no wonder Blatter smiled.

Then to the EPL he didn't......5 million....50 million....500 million.

[carmine]

I'm quite surprised that, now his management days are over, ScrotumFace hasn't put his name into the hat at FIFA.

With his reputation in the game he'd have Africa and Asia sown up.

[Chicog]

And now they're looking into Brazil 2014....

[Chicog]

Professional football sickened by FIFA’s culture of greed

29-05-15

THE world of professional football has expressed its outrage at the ‘sickening’ greed of FIFA officials.

Players and managers said football was about perfecting a beautiful game and to pursue money so crudely was extremely distasteful.

Wayne Rooney, who is paid £50 per match plus his bus fare at Manchester United, said: “I train every day and then go home to my little terraced house, meanwhile these FIFA guys are buying huge mansions.

“They’re driving around in Bentleys while me and my wife Coleen look through the Littlewoods catalogue at all the things we would like to buy one day. Sometimes life is a struggle, but overall we’re very happy.”

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo added: “Playing football is a great way to unwind after spending all week working on my uncle’s fishing boat. FIFA has lost touch with the simple life of the ordinary man.

“Of course it would be nice to be paid a bit more by Real Madrid, but I’m not complaining because I make enough money from gutting sardines. I now have a small flat and a moped.”

Chelsea manager and part-time coffee shop barista, Jose Mourinho, said: “I met one of these FIFA guys once. He was really flaunting his wealth to the point where I did start to get a bit jealous.

“But then I went back to my room at the Holiday Inn Express, opened a packet of complimentary shortbread and realised I was the luckiest man in the world.”

[Chicog]

And this kind of laundering has probably gone on in most of the African countries as well.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/06/07/uk-soccer-fifa-bbc-idUKKBN0ON08S20150607?rpc=401The British Broadcasting Corp claims to have seen evidence detailing what happened to the $10 million (6.5 million pounds) football's world governing body FIFA sent to former vice-president Jack Warner.

Warner is among nine current and former FIFA officials and five corporate executives charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with running a criminal enterprise that involved more than $150 million in bribes.

Prosecutors say Warner solicited bribes worth $10 million from the South African government to host the 2010 World Cup and diverted funds for personal use.

The BBC reported on Sunday that it had seen documents showing Warner had used the money for cash withdrawals, personal loans and to launder money.

"The papers seen by the BBC detail three wire transfers by FIFA," the report said.

"In the three transactions -- on 4 January, 1 February and 10 March 2008 -- funds totalling $10m from FIFA accounts were received into CONCACAF accounts controlled by Jack Warner."

Warner, a central figure in world football's deepening scandal, had constantly denied any wrongdoing but vowed last week to tell investigators all he knew about corruption within the sport's governing body.

The 72-year-old announced his plans to reveal all in a paid political address in his homeland of Trinidad and Tobago, entitled "The gloves are off".

"The documents reveal how the money was spent and moved around," the BBC said in its report.

"JTA Supermarkets, a large chain in Trinidad, received $4,860,000 from the accounts.

"The money was paid in instalments from January 2008 to March 2009. The largest payment was $1,350,000, paid in February 2008."

(Reporting by Julian Linden in Singapore; Editing by John O'Brien)