Depends on the context of those comments. He could have been saying 'people say Blatter has been President for too long blah blah blah'....'but I think he has plenty life left in him.' If those quotes havn't been doctored or selected to make a story out of nothing this is interesting. While I have no desire to have another President from a non football heartland, anyone would be better than Blatter. As far as I'm concerned the President should always be a European or South American but FIFA has become more about politics and careers than the football. Failing politician in a small country, still want wealth and influence? rock up to FIFA, the next best career option.
Why? Hasn't Blatter and before him Havelange ben bad enough? Look at MBH, he's single handedly turned the Asian game around, if he could do half of that as FIFA President then the world game will be for the better.
Because those are the heartlands of football and are immersed in it's traditions. They should have more of a say than Qatar (Hamann). Blatter was a bit odd coming from Switzerland, which has never had a particularly large role to play in the development of football, other than hosting the '54 World Cup because none of the other Euro nations could afford it at the time the hosting rights were given. You wouldn't see half the nonsense at FIFA with a German or an English President, someone like good old Stanley Rous. God only knows what we're going to see if Qatar manages to gain control of the FIFA Presidency after blatantly bribing it's way to the 2022 WC. I will laugh at Bladder though if after selling the 2022 WC to maintain his grip on power, the very person he thought he was buying (Hamann) turns out to be his executioner. How very Machiavellian.
MBH would obviously love the job so he can try and control perception of Qatar at FIFAs expense and also head off the massive discontent about the decision for 2022
Who ever's in charge, there mandate is the 2014 World Cup first. I don't know whay he would need to be in charge to control the perception of Qatar at FIFA's expense, aren't FIFA doing this already?
So basically you just don't like that everyone gets to play now? You'd prefer if the World Cup was like it was in the beginning with pretty much only European and South American teams playing, with maybe a guest team or two such as USA and Mexico? Also you'd probably prefer if the World Cup was played in Europe every other time, like it used to, right? Pffft get out of here. Despite all the "corruption", Blatter has been one of the best things to happen for the game. Under his watch both Asia and Africa got to host a World Cup for the first time ever and now the Middle East is slated to host their first World Cup. This will also be the first time that two consecutive World Cups have been hosted where neither are in Europe (2010 and 2014). So of course Europeans are pouting "boohoo, we don't want to share"... well too bad!
ROUS? ROUS? ROUS?? To quote a famous American tennis player "You must be joking!!!". I bet you weren't even born when Rous was messing with all things football, otherwise you would not have posted this candidate for the dumbest-post thread on BS. Either that or you're trolling on here. A more Anglo-centric FIFA President, who couldn't even acknowledge the existence of a non-European footballing world, could you get. Give us all a break, please.
Ridiculous. All your football teams, leagues, tv deals, players are owned by Asians...we own Football in Britain and in Europe. There is nothing you can do.
Immersed in traditions eh? So explain why an Emirati owns a Manc club? An American owns a Manc club. An American owns a scouse club? You want me to go on? If this is tradition then it's working.
What has the ownership of Premier League clubs got to do with whether Western Europe is the heartland of football tradition? Besides there are dozens of English owned clubs in England, contrary to popular belief there is a thriving football culture outside of the EPL in England. ...You own two premiership clubs and we derive more money from selling EPL matches to America than Asia thanks to Asia's rampant piracy.
I'm just saying that you tell me there is a lot of tradition in Western Europe and you want the power base to come from there, yet i don't see much of the tradition in these top flights? Tradition seems to be more in Asia, yet you don't like the thought of someone from Asia taking over.
Beelzebub himself would be an improvement on Blatter.....probably hotter in Qatar in June than where the Devil lives to boot....
No we run the EPL broadcasting and determine the fixtures and kick off times for all matches. Big games aren't played at early starts to avoid trouble lol lol lol it's because Early start is Saturday Night Prime time in Asia.
Games are shown live early on a Saturday afternoon because it's illegal to show games live at 3pm in England. Supporters watch the live game in the Pub/Clubhouse before going to there match.
I think the shout for a European President is largely because the majority of FIFA's money comes from the marketing of players that play in European leagues. The fact that Blatter who is generally hated by the G14 or what used to be the G14 could even talk about messing with European leagues shows how out of touch he is. It is not the tradition or the history that should ensure a European President it is the fact that European football holds all the cards and all the money for FIFA and they need a president who can understand the big clubs and work with them. Also as a European of course I want a European in charge as this should benefit us the most. For those that don't know Blatter was originally an Adidas puppet which is how he got the job but his Machiavellian schemes were too much even for Adidas and he grew too powerful for them to get rid of. The distance between club and international football has grown too big and it needs a lot of reconciliation work. Blatter spent his time working in the developing nations strengthening his power base or bringing football aid to these less fortunate countries (depending on your outlook). The next president needs to make the big countries feel loved again. Obviously if you aren't from a major football playing nation you will disagree with me and think it is good that people from Guatemala and Cyprus play pivotal roles in the governance of world football as that makes sure we get fair decisions....