More comments from Sepp...LONDON: FIFA president Sepp Blatter has accused the owners of the world’s richest clubs of creating a “Wild West-style of capitalism” that threatens to kill the game.
Blatter said football’s world governing body would set up a taskforce to examine the “pornographic amounts of money” that have created big divisions in the sport.
“More than ever before, the majority is fighting with spears, while the greedy few have the financial equivalent of nuclear warheads,” he wrote in Britain’s Financial Times newspaper yesterday.
Blatter said FIFA were concerned about high players’ wages, rising ticket prices, the role of agents in transfers, falling attendances and saturation television coverage of games.
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter has accused owners of rich clubs of creating a Wild West-style of capitalism that threatens to kill the game.
“The time has come to take action to curb the excesses and ensure that the sport protects its roots,” he wrote. “If nothing is done, this new money could suffocate a sport that has no fewer than 1.3 billion active followers.”
Blatter said a handful of rich club owners has won control of the world game “by splashing unimaginable sums on a tiny elite group of players”.
“What makes this a matter of concern is that, 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,” he wrote.
Although Blatter did not name any clubs, his targets are likely to include Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who has spent £330mil since taking over in 2003.
The FIFA boss also attacked the rise in wage demands from “semi-educated, sometimes foul-mouthed, players on £100,000 a week holding clubs to ransom”.
“It is simply insane for any player to ‘earn’ £6mil-£8mil a year,” he wrote. “What logic, right or economic necessity would qualify a man in his mid-20s to demand to earn in a month a sum that his own father – and the majority of fans – could not hope to earn in a decade?”
Blatter added that the practice of trading the commercial rights of young players was a “new type of slavery” that must be curbed.
Blatter said unless action is taken against the problems identified by FIFA the outcome of matches will become increasingly predictable.
“What we are faced with today is a football society of haves and have-nots,” he wrote. “This cannot be the future of our game. FIFA cannot sit by and see greed rule the football world. Nor shall we.” – Reuters
Not one to mince his words.In addition, Blatter criticised wealthy clubs for buying up the world's top players only to leave many of them on the bench.
Blatter said: "We should intervene here. A club should not have more than a certain number of players in their professional squad.
"And on the field of play they should have at least six players eligible for the national team of the country where the club is playing."
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Fund A Mentalist
That cunt has it in for English football and has made a series of statements over the years clearly aimed at us. The thing is that for all his bluster, there is realy nothing that he of FIFA can do & in fact the G14 are busying themselves & IMO it won't be long before they split from FIFA & their European counterparts & set up a rival organization.
I think that's the only time I've heard that twat speak any sense.
Look. Ant is a sensitive, caring & moderate murderator & won't take kindly to you calling him a bunny. Now say sorry.Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog
I think that's the only time I've heard that bunny speak any sense.
He he
Would be nice to see how well Jose, Alex et al would do if you took away their millions.
Well Ant. Jose did very nicely without his millions, as I recall he won the European Cup with Porto...
Harry 1 : 0 Ant
Yes, I'd think that Jose would do much better than Sir Alex if their was a cash ceiling.
Seems much more capable of molding the prima donnas into a team.
It's 1-1.
BLATTER: I'LL SORT WAYNE
It's not all good news for Rooney after FIFA President Sepp Blatter warned that the United forward must be 'called to order'. 'He has such a good career in front of him and can go on for 15 years - but he needs self-discipline,' he is quoted as saying in The Sun. 'One day he should be brought to the FIFA offices - he's invited. I would show him the pictures of me [when Blatter was a player] and he could see that I was also a centre forward like him'.
Pity the slave on 10% of six million eh?Blatter added that the practice of trading the commercial rights of young players was a “new type of slavery” that must be curbed.
Migrated
Broke the stranglehold that Rangers and Celtic had in Scotland, took Aberdeen to Euro success.Yes, I'd think that Jose would do much better than Sir Alex if their was a cash ceiling.
Seems much more capable of molding the prima donnas into a team.
It's 1-1.
Tell me about the money up there please?
Harry, if the G14 split what effect on the rest of Euro football?
Remember how the championship suffered once the TV stations decided that no-one was interested in watching the second tier in England and pulled the plug on televion deals.
Will the big TV moguls have the G14 playing on pay-per-view?
Will anyone want to watch Tottenham vs Aston Villa?
I can't see it being good for football but given that it generates so much money for some people the dash for cash is impossible to stop.
IMO - Be like the Premiership splitting from the rest of the league in England several years ago. Naturally the interest would be greater & therefore revenues would increase, this in turn would lead to greater power & influence. If they didn'y like what UEFA or FIFA were doin' with the game, they just maybe they'd able to call the shots themselves. I have to say that watching the CFC have to play against 4-5-1 formations that Bolton, Charlton, West Brom et al send out week after week is a right bore, give me Barcelona or Ajax or Milan each week...
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