The FIFA motto is ‘for the good of the game' ... are you kidding me?
I recommend an immediate change to ‘for the good of my wallet’ because the stench of corruption wafting out of Zurich is making me gag.
After being praised as the best technical bid to host World Cup 2018, England’s bid crashed out in the first round of voting after picking up two -- yes, two -- votes. Do me a favor, two votes. One from Geoff Thompson, our guy and the other from Japan. How do you go from being favorites to first out?
I suppose the old boys club of FIFA decided to gang up on the bid after they’d been exposed as greedy, dishonest, sleazy and willing to sell out their mothers for a few dollars. Well, actually make that $100 million dollars. That’s just one of the numbers a BBC Panorama documentary special knocked out on Monday night when pulling down the trousers of just three members of the 22-man Executive Committee.
By the way this isn’t sour grapes. Congratulations Russia -- see I said it. But Russia?
You could tell something was up though. The announcement was meant to come down at 4 pm local time but for some reason it was delayed by 30 minutes. I believe that was when the tire on the wheelbarrow exploded due to the amount of cash being moved around FIFA headquarters. You can’t tell me that cuddly Uncle Sepp Blatter didn’t look a little winded by the time he made it to the podium.
But if you like virtual World Cups, Russia will be the place to go. Virtual stadiums, virtual rail links, virtual freedom of the press and healthy doses of racism. Look, I’m sure the Russians will do a great job but there really needs to be some transparency in the way the mafia -- excuse my Freudian slip of the tongue -- FIFA is run.
This is an organization that all but takes over a country during the five weeks of the tournament. This is an organization that demands tax exempt status. This is an organization that encourages brown envelopes filled with wonga and the bigger the envelope, the more votes will come your way.
Okay, maybe I’m a little upset. How about I settle down for a second and look introspectively at the English bid and ask the question ‘why did we fail?’
In-fighting at the beginning of the bidding process didn’t help. Changes at the top of the bid committee created instability. A vapid press intent on exposing the slightest mistakes forced paranoia but when all is said and done, football should’ve come back to its spiritual home.
The fact that football won’t be coming home will cause some reflection within the FA but ultimately we’ll display a ‘stiff upper lip’ and move on as will all the losing bids. That being the case and with time to reflect, I also hope FIFA decides to clean up their act.
The bidding process is antiquated and filled with loopholes. How a handful of men who only have self interest at heart can look straight into a camera and say otherwise is ridiculous. They need to be reminded that it is our game and they are supposedly the guardians of football, not autocratic dictators.
I ask Blatter and co. to open up the books. No, not the ones on the table, but the books that are locked away in a vault somewhere in Switzerland. Have some transparency and this media glare that you’re cringing over and which currently engulfs the organization will gradually fade away. Hey, if the IOC (International Olympic Committee) can bare its soul and clean out their cupboards, then there’s help for all of us.
Currently I feel that membership of FIFA is just encouraging and legitimizing these crooks. Perhaps its time to threaten a mass walkout. The Premier League pulled off a coup in 1993 and left the Football Association omnipotent, so why not call FIFA’s bluff?
After all what have you got to lose?
They’ve already taken the soul of football and traded it for a few rubles.
Nick Webster is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering the English national team and the Barclay's Premier League.
