Liverpool FC Forum

[Ciggy]

Blatter blasts big-money backers

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. 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"

He added: "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."

Its about bloody time someone will take action against the likes of Chelsea and Real Madrid ruining the game, if Chelsea are going to win all before them whats the point in anyone turning up?
When WBA recently made a trip to Stamford Bridge aload of second string players played cause they knew they would get beat so they saved there better players for the game against Birmingham a few days later.
What kind of a message is that sending out?
I think every oppotition fan should boycott Stamford Bridge its the only way there is going to be a stop in their shady transfer dealings, and the F.A. need to do something about it and quick, before the game we love is a thing of the past, Football is a sport but Roman and Maureen are gradually ruining it for everyone.

Another article about it here.
http://www.eurosport.com/home....1.shtml

[RedWolf35]

and so say all of us!!!!!!

Chelski your time is up     

Blatter has quite rightly noticed that If Chelsea were to keep buying all the top players and win everything supporters may start to look elsewhere

This should never have been allowed to happen !!!!!!

[Ace Ventura]

A very interesting article, its good to see that Mr Blatter might actually be doing something useful.
While i agree that something does need to be done about people like Abramovich with no real interest in English football and especially in CFC, what can be done realistically ?
Unless there is any concrete proof that he has dodgy money (which although its obvious, there is no proof) then unfortunately the Premiership can continue to be a playground for rich foreigners.
All we can hope for is that he loses his interest as quick as he found it and moves on to motor racing or something else, because i agree in the long term it will ruin the whole concept of competitive club football....not just in Britain....but in Europe as well.

[Ciggy]

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."

Is it my imagination or is that an attack on Wayne Rooney? And Rio Ferdninand?
Sorry MODS for putting it in LFC discussion but it would have gone unoticed in football worldwide and it does effect our club.

[66-1112520797]

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."

Is it my imagination or is that an attack on Wayne Rooney? And Rio Ferdninand?
Sorry MODS for putting it in LFC discussion but it would have gone unoticed in football worldwide.

Cisse I reckon that is your imagination why would he say that just about them two ?

What about Gerrard?

Infact what about all the top players across europe who earn ridiculous amounts of money ?

For him to come out now and say that ,well ,its a bit f#cking late isnt it .What ,did it really need a club like Chelsea to make him wake up and smell the coffee ?

[Ciggy]

I meant the fouled mouth one on a 100 grand a week, I dont know many other foul mouthed players on a 100 grand a week, Blatter wont have been pleased with Rooney telling that ref to f@ck off I think its a dig at him, and Rio holding out for 120 grand a week.

[66-1112520797]

I meant the fouled mouth one on a 100 grand a week, I dont know many other foul mouthed players on a 100 grand a week, Blatter wont have been pleased with Rooney telling that ref to f@ck off I think its a dig at him, and Rio holding out for 120 grand a week.

Yeah sorry I see your point.

Of course it was a dig at him 

[woof woof !]

While i agree that something does need to be done about people like Abramovich with no real interest in English football and especially in CFC, what can be done realistically ?

Yeah, it's difficult to see what Fifa can do in terms of restricting the amount a club pays for a player or what wages a player may recieve from a club without contravening some law regarding trade and an individuals human rights . However Fifa could look at the issue of squad sizes i:e how many players a club is allowed to register with Fifa to make them eligible to play in the major competitons (including their own domestic league) , this would stop some clubs from hoarding players .For example ,if a team can only register say 20- 22 players for the senior competitions this would mean that the likes of Madrid or Chelsea  cannot just whip out their cheque book and go out and bully another club into selling their best player/s without first releasing some of the top talent they already have on their books . A system like this could possibly make the likes of Real Madrid think twice before buying someone like Michael Owen and sticking him on the bench for most of the time . Perhaps not a perfect solution but worth consideration ? At least top talent may be spread more evenly and great players actually get to play instead of just bench warming .

[Espionage]

A logical way of solving this issue could be bringing in the system that the NBA uses.
Its  quite good; there is a cap and if you want to spend over, you can.
For every dollar that you go over you have to donate that amount into a fund that gets equally distributed to all the other clubs in the league.
In this way some clubs may still try and go over the salery cap but have to pay alot and end up helping their opposition!
What do you think?

[66-1112520797]

A logical way of solving this issue could be bringing in the system that the NBA uses.
Its  quite good; there is a cap and if you want to spend over, you can.
For every dollar that you go over you have to donate that amount into a fund that gets equally distributed to all the other clubs in the league.
In this way some clubs may still try and go over the salery cap but have to pay alot and end up helping their opposition!
What do you think?

Thats sounds like a really good idea maybe Fifa should look into something like this.At least the smaller clubs will have some  money donated to them which seems fair enough.

[Ciggy]

While i agree that something does need to be done about people like Abramovich with no real interest in English football and especially in CFC, what can be done realistically ?

Yeah, it's difficult to see what Fifa can do in terms of restricting the amount a club pays for a player or what wages a player may recieve from a club without contravening some law regarding trade and an individuals human rights . However Fifa could look at the issue of squad sizes i:e how many players a club is allowed to register with Fifa to make them eligible to play in the major competitons , this would stop some clubs from hoarding players .For example ,if a team can only register say 20- 22 players for the senior competitions this would mean that the likes of Madrid or Chelsea  cannot just whip out their cheque book and go out and bully another club into selling their best player/s without first releasing some of the top talent they already have on their books . A system like this could possibly make the likes of Real Madrid think twice before buying someone like Michael Owen and sticking him on the bench for most of the time . Perhaps not a perfect solution but worth consideration ? At least top talent may be spread more evenly and great players actually get to play instead of just bench warming .

I like your idea woof, but I think a wage cap may be brought in to stop the likes of Chelsea and Real Madrid, if there would have been a wage cap on the likes of the Essien and Dogbreath transfer of say 15 million, would they have been twice as quick to go there? I think not, Dogbreath 24 million, Essien 26 million, they where going to pay 30 million for Gerrard I mean its Extortion it really is.

[bigmick]

It's a very intersting post and point Lynds and it's quite heartening to see that FIFA are at least aware that there is a problem. Of course whether they will do anything about it is the real question, with the answer being of course not until they are forced into it.

A couple of really well respected and knowledgeable posters on here last week said that Chelsea's current domination is nothing new, merely comparable to the Liverpool and Manure domination of the seventies and eightees. It is the job of everybody else to catch up etc etc. I absolutely disagree with that stance and believe it to be an extreme case of the head being buried in the sand. We are, it must be remembered, in the very early stages of a team having a ridiculous advantage over absolutely everybody else in Europe. It's not like when we were a good side and used to bid for players, at least we had rivals in the transfer market. The same could be said to a slightly lesser extent about Manure. Currently however, if Chelsea want a player then everybody else pulls out of the race giving them a clear run to buy whoever they please. There is no limit on squad numbers so they can have a squad of 50 Internationals if they like. Injury worries become a thing of the past. How about offering Spurs 15 million for Michael Dawson, offering Dawson a ten year deal and leasing him back to White Hart Lane on the understanding that at a moments notice he will come back to the Bridge in a crisis. Crazy? It'll never happen? Don't bet on it.

Before Chelsea Forever comes on here spouting his nonsense, I reiterate what I have said before. I have nothing against Chelsea and Abrhamovic personally, I am by no means a blue-hater. FWIW I think life is too short for hate and whatever, I reserve all my dislike for Manure but I digress. The simple fact of the matter is that something should have been done 30 years ago to level the professional playing field somewhat, yes that means when we were the best. Chelsea haven't broken the rules, they have merely exposed them for the nonsense that they are.

I said earlier that we are in the early stages of a financial monopoly. Consider if nothing changes what it will be like in five years time. Chelsea will be touring the youth acadamies handing out 1/2 million pounds, five year contracts like confetti. "If you get to be any good son, there's plenty more where that came from". Every young player as well as established players will be jettisoned in the pursuit of dominance.

It's time to act now, but it won't happen. Five Premiership titles in a row is what it'll take along with a couple of CL titles. Oh and when 3/4 of the teams in the top division can only fill half the ground, SKY drop their annual cash bonanza because viewing figures drop through the floor and the gap widens even further, that might just make them sit up aswell.

[Ace Ventura]

It's a very intersting post and point Lynds and it's quite heartening to see that FIFA are at least aware that there is a problem. Of course whether they will do anything about it is the real question, with the answer being of course not until they are forced into it.

A couple of really well respected and knowledgeable posters on here last week said that Chelsea's current domination is nothing new, merely comparable to the Liverpool and Manure domination of the seventies and eightees. It is the job of everybody else to catch up etc etc. I absolutely disagree with that stance and believe it to be an extreme case of the head being buried in the sand. We are, it must be remembered, in the very early stages of a team having a ridiculous advantage over absolutely everybody else in Europe. It's not like when we were a good side and used to bid for players, at least we had rivals in the transfer market. The same could be said to a slightly lesser extent about Manure. Currently however, if Chelsea want a player then everybody else pulls out of the race giving them a clear run to buy whoever they please. There is no limit on squad numbers so they can have a squad of 50 Internationals if they like. Injury worries become a thing of the past. How about offering Spurs 15 million for Michael Dawson, offering Dawson a ten year deal and leasing him back to White Hart Lane on the understanding that at a moments notice he will come back to the Bridge in a crisis. Crazy? It'll never happen? Don't bet on it.

Before Chelsea Forever comes on here spouting his nonsense, I reiterate what I have said before. I have nothing against Chelsea and Abrhamovic personally, I am by no means a blue-hater. FWIW I think life is too short for hate and whatever, I reserve all my dislike for Manure but I digress. The simple fact of the matter is that something should have been done 30 years ago to level the professional playing field somewhat, yes that means when we were the best. Chelsea haven't broken the rules, they have merely exposed them for the nonsense that they are.

I said earlier that we are in the early stages of a financial monopoly. Consider if nothing changes what it will be like in five years time. Chelsea will be touring the youth acadamies handing out 1/2 million pounds, five year contracts like confetti. "If you get to be any good son, there's plenty more where that came from". Every young player as well as established players will be jettisoned in the pursuit of dominance.

It's time to act now, but it won't happen. Five Premiership titles in a row is what it'll take along with a couple of CL titles. Oh and when 3/4 of the teams in the top division can only fill half the ground, SKY drop their annual cash bonanza because viewing figures drop through the floor and the gap widens even further, that might just make them sit up aswell.

Great post Bigmick,

Although its worried me even more now.

[Redtribe]

If they really want to make a difference I think a wage cap is the best option. There is no way that any footballer deserves 100k a week I would also say that none deserve 60k a week. But that seems like something which would be more appropriate at least for now!
I'm also a firm believer in the amount of foreign players allowed into the squad should be limited or we could see the issue of cheaper foreign players rear its ugly headed further from the background!
Its great to see the fifa president actually saying something of sense for a change and hopefully they will start implementing changes soon!
I have no problem with Chelsea having abramovich just as long as he is restricted to allow a fair playing field for all!
It would be interesting to see how good maureen really is against the likes of rafa, wenger and so on. It would be very interesting to see how good young English managers are against the likes of him! Could he do what curbishly has done with charlton with the same budget and facilities?
Effectively chelsea bought the title last year as blackburn did years ago. That takes the very heart out of sport and leaves a very bitter taste in the mouths of real supporters?

Bring on the changes please fifa!

[darwisigila]

Fair play? there's no fair play in our everyday life either. At least Blatter gave some hope. we will see if mr blatter can walk his talk.....until then special will remain special arrogant