Well, technically of course, Bernstein is the former head of the FA. I hadn't heard about the German response to this farce, but it's welcome. The more support there is, the more likely UEFA can be coerced into acting.
It's very difficult for the FA to lead the line on this anymore. The report rightly pointed out that we were no saints in how we acted so it doesn't do us any good to play anymore than a supporting role. The Germans have real power though now, no one gives a **** if England don't turn up for a World Cup but the defending champions, that's a different story and would be a major embarrassment to FIFA.
We were playing by FIFAs rules. If we did try to get Warner (?) on side, it would have been because we had to, to stand a chance. The game is rotten, not the FA (on this anyway).
I don't disagree but on Sunday Supplement they made a great point. If we knew it was corrupt then why bid and waste public money that could've been used far better elsewhere? We tried to play the game and failed so it's easy for FIFA to point and say it's all just sour grapes and that we didn't have a problem with the process until we lost, which is true.
I'm not sure that we were aware of all the "rules" re the bidding process. We may not have acted entirely correctly, but apparently we weren't anywhere near crooked enough to play the FIFA game.
If there's something that would really start the dominoes toppling, it would be the head of one of the South American FAs, especially the CBF or AFA, throwing in with UEFA in threatening a boycott. Not only would that potentially cause the one thing that terrifies FIFA above all else, a World Cup without Brazil, but CONMEBOL have links with CONCACAF as Mexico and the USA have taken part in the Copa America, as well as the 2016 tournament taking place in the US.
Acting like it was their idea?! To agree with someone or suggest the same course of action as they have?! Do grown-ups in international organizations put much truck in "I said it first so you can't say it"? Did you not want the FA to add their voice to the call? Because they didn't say it first?
Bernstein didn't agree with the DFB's stance, nor did he credit them with suggesting the exact same thing a couple of days beforehand. Instead he wanted to be seen as the big man, which is utterly laughable.
Didn't agree with it? How is : ""If I was at the FA now, I would do everything I could to encourage other nations within Uefa - and there are some who would definitely be on side, others may be not - to take this line," not materially agree with this: "One option that would have to bear serious consideration is certainly that UEFA leaves FIFA." Does the timeline of who said it first change the veracity of one of those quotes? And exactly how is Bernstein saying something fairly sensible, something that, apparently, it is OK for the German Football League president a case of him "being seen as the big man". You're reading an awful lot into this that does not seem to be there purely because one person said it first. Perhaps Bernstein said something I've not read? Perhaps he said it as he ripped his shirt off? Perhaps he made it very clear that he had invented this idea and anyone who subsequently agrees with him should be seen as the foolish copycat and certainly not welcomed into the consensus? If I think something is true I don't check to see if anyone's said it first to (in a topsy-turvy move) ensure that it is more true. Or that I appear more cool and original.
Now we have Greg Dyke demanding to see Garcia's full report into corruption at FIFA - which is exactly what Rauball said two days previously, which once again makes The FA look utterly pathetic as they're trying to make out they're the movers and shakers when they're not. It needs to be said that The FA could have easily made a stand against FIFA by endorsing the nomination of the person who was looking to stand in the last presidential election on a non-corruption ticket, because one endorsement from any FA in the world is all that it would have took, but what did The FA do? Nothing. Rather than take a stand and say they were opposed to Blatter, they sat on their hands and decided the best thing to do was to sit on the sidelines bitching and moaning. It also needs to be said that maturity and responsibility are not the bywords for those who have some degree of authority in football, as the regular childish spats at various levels of the KNVB or FAI demonstrate at regular intervals. So for two people affiliated with The FA to try and make out they're the ones with this bright idea for UEFA to leave FIFA, even though that exact same idea was floated in Saturday's edition of The Guardian by somebody from the DFB, is what makes it so laughable./ Do they not know how Google works? They're repeating what Rauball said word-for-word!
If England and other top European F.As withdraw from FIFA they will no longer be bound by their rules. The clubs in those countries will be able to refuse to release players for Internationals as there will not be any sanctions that FIFA could impose and so it may well make Brazil, Argentina and some othe non-European countries join the fight to rid us of FIFA in its current form.
Realistically the tipping point would be the RFEF: in theory Messi, Neymar, Bale, Rodriguez, Ronaldo, a large chunk of the Spain squad and numerous others not representing their countries in protest at Blatter's way of running FIFA would change things pretty damn quickly. ...although in reality FIFA would probably employ a Vogon level of bureaucracy before actually doing something.
I wonder if anyone with access to the report really wants to get rid of Blatter? If so, then we might see it leak. I'd also avoid storing it on any computer with internet access, if I were in his position. The guy must have a lot of crap on the people around him at FIFA, though. He'd be long gone otherwise.
He certainly had crap on Mohammed bin-Hammam, which conveniently got leaked when MbH was going to stand against him for the FIFA presidency. That's presumably why Platini didn't kick up a fuss when Blatter reneged on his promise to step aside for Platini to take over.
I think it goes without saying that there are several snouts all in the trough. I guess it's one of these situations where all of them have a pistol against each other's head. Nobody can afford to pull the trigger for fear of getting shot down themselves.
Um - this interview on the street was conducted last Friday I believe (or at least that's when it was uploaded to the BBC website - it might have taken place earlier than that I guess): http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30044791 Greg Dyke: "We'd like to see the Garcia report". But whatever - I couldn't give a monkey's who said what when and who the winner is - it seems a very weird concern to me. I wouldn't wish for a world where once someone has said something credible or true anyone subsequently agreeing with them or echoing their points are deemed "utterly pathetic". That just seems puerile, to be honest. There may be lots of wonderful reasons to bash the FA (of course there are) but this surely isn't one of them. Is it not also true that the German FA (who are all definitely awesome) also did not endorse any presidential nominations? Why, then, do the English FA deserve unique condemnation for this? Is it just cos you're British, do you think? It is natural to think that the leaders and bureaucrats that you know best are awful. A subsequent mistake that people make sometimes is to think that leaders and bureaucrats everywhere else must somehow be better.
Have the DFB spent the past few years bitching and moaning from the sidelines yet never doing anything about the situation? What makes The FA so utterly pathetic is they have spent the past few years on the sidelines bitching and moaning when they could have done something, but obviously did not. They did not endorse the nomination of somebody seeking to stand against Blatter on an anti-corruption ticket nor did they put up their own candidate to oppose Blatter, yet they're happy to jump in with their tuppence worth when the DFB says the same things first. How does that not sound miserably or contemptibly inadequate - which happens to be the dictionary definition of the word pathetic? It's as pathetic as watching David Cameron condemning something six hours after Obama has done so - because people actually listen to Obama as he has authority in global politics while Cameron has about as much authority as a milk monitor.
I have absolutely no idea. Do you? Quite possibly they have not, though, since they won the last World Cup they bid for. Now if the whole process and FIFA are as corrupt as we are to believe should that fact alone not question this otherwise pure and superb organisation as opposed to the pathetic and inadequate English FA?
The correct answer is "No, they have not." Now what are you trying to imply with Germany not having reason to complain as they were awarded the 2006 World Cup? That the DFB bribed FIFA officials? If you can't back that up, and it's not a wild guess on my part to say that you can't, what was the point of saying it? First of all, it should be pointed out that the DFB have stood up to FIFA in the past: for the 2006 tournament, FIFA stated that all stadia should serve Budweiser and nothing but Budweiser, who just so happen to be one of FIFA's corporate partners so would have lined their pockets from the event. The DFB flatly refused this directive, saying if they couldn't sell German beer in German stadiums they wouldn't serve any beer to any fans, so FIFA had to back down and there was the choice of Bittberger or Budweiser at the stadiums, and the fans voted with their wallets in favour of the beer that isn't brewed by FIFA's corporate partners - and I wouldn't be surprised if this was directly linked to stewards refusing Dutch fans entry into the stadiums for the 2010 tournament for wearing outfits with the Oranjeboom logo prominently featured, and for that matter the Holland/Belgium bid for 2018 receiving a surprisingly low number of votes, presumably because stadiums would have had to sell Heiniken, Oranjeboom and Jupiler as well Anheuser-Busch's bland and characterless concoction of nothingness. The fact that that the DFB have hosted World Cup in the last decade yet spoke out against FIFA and demanded to see the full report speaks volumes - which cannot be said about a bunch of bandwagon jumpers with a chip on their shoulder because even the most corrupt, greedy or incompetent FIFA delegate could see that The FA squawking "we invented football" is not a valid reason to award that country the 2006 or 2018 World Cup.
