Blatter Slams The Greedy Few!

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 29/09/2004

AMAZING that FIFA president Sepp Blatter has today come up with something that most people can agree with. Blatter warned against England's elite clubs being allowed to take control of the Football Association.

In the Financial Times, Blatter says: "For wealthy clubs to try to emasculate the international game by seizing control of a national football association - as I read that some fear they are trying to do in England - is unacceptable."

"It is an attempt to undermine the very foundation of what any such association is all about: in the case of England, this means looking after the interests of about 45,000 clubs (not just the biggest four or five), so that youngsters of all backgrounds and ages can enjoy their game, and so that a few can rise to fame and fortune whether they hail from millionaires' row or the most obscure housing estate."

"Football must remain entertainment for all. It must not become the plaything of a greedy few who believe that their (fleeting) financial strength gives them the legitimacy to call the shots, abandon the grass roots and destroy the very foundation of the national game."

"The process of globalisation, that affects all our lives, is exerting a malign influence on football and pushing the world's favourite sport in an unsavoury direction. What is more, for once, Europe appears to be setting the pace."

"The conflict between national teams and a handful of apparently omnipotent clubs is set to intensify in the near future. When it does, spectators, non-Europeans and football itself will all lose out."END

The recent shenanigans at the FA have created a situation that will enable Premier Clubs to gain additional power once the reorganisation is completed.

One thing is for sure, the FA no longer seem so concerned over the grass roots amteur ranks and some members of parliament are in favour of the amateur and non league clubs to have their own form of FA or a separate division within the FA which would mean that government funds directed to them will actually get there.

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