MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Never saw that coming.
[url= http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2015/jun/02/fifa-calls-press-conference-amid-latest-corruption-claims-live ]The Guardian's live text feed.[/url]
I’m getting inundated with tweets and emails. It’s fair to say the word ‘shredder’ crops up in the majority of them.
Inevitable, really.
Maybe it was that 10million?
Still be around for a few months. Probably hoping the dust will settle and he'll be persuaded to stay on.
Like everything else he's ever done, it'll just be manoeuvring before another massive scam! I predict a Nigel Farage style non-resignation as a distraction, while they get busy with the shredder and shifting some funds around
At least bernie ecclestone was smart enough to do his bribing in a country where you could pay off the legal system. Allegedly.
But in more important news Brendan Rodgers confirms he is staying on at Liverpool for next season ,, great 9 more months of comedy gold 
ding dong the witch is dead..! I hope the fbi / swiss carry on their investigation and get to the bottom of it. Meanwhile Sepp can empty the coffers and do some deals before he buggers off.. If it were anywhere else he would be escorted off the premises and items put in a box faster than you can say " it wasnt me guvnor"
as I posted on the other thread.
I still don't think there will be any evidence of any irregular payment or bribe made by Blatter, made to Blatter or authorised by Blatter. Everything done by him will be all above board, of course he knew that all the money being paid into all those projects was being siphoned off by national officials, but there will be absolutely no evidence of his involvement.
I don't think he was in it for the money, the fact that FIFA paid him a massive wage was just a bonus(allegedly as FIFA accounts don't have to be submitted in Switzerland). He was in it for the power, he wanted to rule and manipulate, that was his motivation.
I still don't think there will be any evidence of any irregular payment or bribe made by Blatter, made to Blatter or authorised by Blatter. Everything done by him will be all above board, of course he knew that all the money being paid into all those projects was being siphoned off by national officials, but there will be absolutely no evidence of his involvement.
Irrelevant. He doesn't have to be involved in any of it. The FCPA (most likely way they'll get him) could have him for just knowing about it and doing nothing, or even being wilfully negligent in NOT knowing about it. Failure to prevent bribery, books & records and more. He's in trouble if they go after him.
I hear he's running for parliament in orkney and shetland
Is it just me that gets's quite concerned that the powers that be have no control of the powers that be.
I felt the same when the pensions went tits up.
Some serious money involved and it took action by the Americans to bring it to a halt?
He knows that they know, that they now also know that he knows that they know.
Or something like that.
Even Cameron knew and let him know that he knew people who knew
He knows that they know, that they now also know that he knows that they know.
Only because they told him this was the case.
Quits?
I thought he'd said he'll resign - slightly different in my eyes.
Maybe once he's had the docs shredded...
The FCPA (most likely way they'll get him) could have him for just knowing about it and doing nothing, or even being wilfully negligent in NOT knowing about it. Failure to prevent bribery, books & records and more.
FIFA doesn't have securities listed in the US (does it?) so books and records provisions don't apply. your other stuff isn't quite correct either but I'm off the clock. having said all that, if there is any evidence that Blatter benefitted (I think even just getting re-elected by giving out personal favours might count in the right circumstances - I think a number of the foreign delegates are public officials) and any interest in chasing him down, there will be no end of ways to snag him.
He's a power crazed megalomaniac - why else would he go to all the trouble and expense of proving to the world that he was the only one that was worthy to lead only to give it all up a few days later? Absolutely barking!
I think even just getting re-elected by giving out personal favours
Eeeuuuu! Whatever are you insinuating now?! Can you back that up with evidence?! It's not the FIA all over again is it?! 😉
Well when the first vote went down 133 backed Blatter, that would suggest that 133 felt more comfortable with the guy who looks the other way. T guess it's going to get worse before it gets better.
Eeeuuuu! Whatever are you insinuating now?! Can you back that up with evidence?! It's not the FIA all over again is it?!
I wasn't insinuating anything, just speaking absolutely hypothetically and actually, on reflection, I'm not sure if an individual retaining his status as an employment would be "retaining business". the problem is that there is very little jurisprudence on the fcpa.
I don't even know what FIA is or why it would remind anyone of FIFA.
Once the sponsors get twitchy then the end is neigh but I cant help feeling that he will come out of this a free man, possibly by simply letting those below him take the wrap (that is if he is guilty of anything, currently nothing is proved).
FIA is motorsport. I assumed it was a Max Moseley and S&M hookers reference.
A German court has agreed to end the bribery trial of Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone in exchange for a $100m (£60m) payment from him.
Mr Ecclestone's offer was based on an existing provision in German law.
Earlier on Tuesday German prosecutors accepted the offer from the 83-year-old billionaire who dominates motor racing.
He went on trial in April, accused of paying a German banker 33m euros (£26m; $44m) to ensure that a company he favoured could buy a stake in F1.
FIA - motorsport
Sponsors twitchy?
MacDonald's are a main sponsor, they dont care , it costs millions to sponsor the world cup and in return biliions! Of people are exposed to your product they'll take a bit o corruption to get that level of exposure
He's only gone coz he found out the FBI were directly investigating him and its obvious he'd trousered millions
What's laughable is that FIFA and the FA are on their high horses and excited eplacing him with their preferred candidate , there's just as much corruption at their levels, there's just less cash involved
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32912445http:// ]yep twitchy[/url]
And McDonald's said it "takes matters of ethics and corruption very seriously and the news from the US Department of Justice is extremely concerning. We are in contact with FIFA on this matter. We will continue to monitor the situation very closely".
I guess it depends how you oiled the wheels to get your sponsorship deal...
Bl- Bl- Bl- Blatt's all, folks.
What's laughable is that FIFA and the FA are on their high horses and excited eplacing him with their preferred candidate , there's just as much corruption at their levels, there's just less cash involved
Uncle Greg has come out of this looking rather idiotic and clueless.
This image is brilliant;
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Walking away from his job being ushered towards a harsh light that will illuminate more than he probably wants to be revealed.
So who's going to tell this bloke they can't have their world cup
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Uncle Greg has come out of this looking rather idiotic and clueless.
Dyke ? I think he's been proven absolutely correct and the FA where one of the first associations to stand up to FIFA. Chapeau I say.
@kona - I think the link to FIFA in Switzerland for the FBI is that the bribes where made is US dollars, that gives them jurisdiction pretty much anywhere especially as is likely those transfers where cleared through banks US offices. Secondly CONCACAF is HQ'd in Miami, so any corruption between CONCACAF and FIFA draws in FIFA in Switzerland. Thirdly the voting for the World Cup included bids from the US so would have involved US companies and probably some public money. Plus on top of all this the US will be in contact with Switzerland who after all the bank secrecy issues will be bending over backwards to help with the FIFA investigation.
So who's going to tell this bloke they can't have their world cup
The US could well do so. No love lost right now with the situation in Ukraine and Russians support of Assad in Syria
I have a small bit of sympathy for Sepp. It's been made out in the media that he's some kind of super-vilian, coordinating a worldwide web of corruption from his layer deep in a Swiss mountain.
FIFA is a global organisation. The way it is set up gives equal power to each member country. Corruption is endemic in most of the world. Western Europe and North America are exceptions, not the norm. FIFA reflects it's member organisations.
Realistically, Blatter can't fix corruption around the world which is effectively what he is being held accountable for. His mistake is hanging around too long.
Realistically, Blatter can't fix corruption around the world which is effectively what he is being held accountable for.
Didn't he set up the voting system of "one vote per country", essentially enabling the corruption, in the first place?
Almost as if he was contemplating milking it for all it was worth.
Realistically, Blatter can't fix corruption around the world which is effectively what he is being held accountable for. His mistake is hanging around too long.
@tomd Oh I think Blatter was very much part of creating the web of corruption, that's what the investigation will prove IMO. thats what he's been accused of for years. Its a nice convenient side effect of giving the Cayman Islands (for example) the same voting power as Germany, France or England that the ability to influence voting is very powerful. (EDIT I see whoppit has made the same point)
t's been made out in the media that he's some kind of super-vilian, coordinating a worldwide web of corruption from his layer deep in a Swiss mountain.
I think the charge is the organisation he runs is riddled with corruption and he has either turned a blind eye or joined in
Only the investigation will prove which
It seems quite unlikely he is innocent and knew nothing.
@tomd Oh I think Blatter was very much part of creating the web of corruption, that's what the investigation will prove IMO. thats what he's been accused of for years. Its a nice convenient side effect of giving the Cayman Islands (for example) the same voting power as Germany, France or England that the ability to influence voting is very powerful. (EDIT I see whoppit has made the same point)
Not just votes, but also money, all the member countries take an equal share of the money. Now I wouldn't care if more FIFA money flowed into poorer countries to build football pitches and facilities, and if European nation got sweet fa. But to give the Caymen Islands or Montserrat (population 5000) the same share as say Cameroon (population 22 million) is blatantly ridiculous.
is blatantly ridiculous.
Literally?
Well that's Pat McQuaid and Sepp Blatter. Bernie next please.
You leave that Bernie alone, he's made F1 the sport what it is today.
I may be being over cynical but I'd have thought that the sponsors aren't twitchy over a bit of corruption, what they are twitchy over is head of fifa getting banged up for corruption.yep twitchy
Did anybody think fifa was a shining beacon of honesty and morality? Pretty sure eveyone knew it was bent as a nine bob note, as did the sponsors, it's only when it's in the media that there's liable to be actual convictions that they start getting nervy about it.
I think they previously had plausible deniability*
now they dont
* not convincing but they could argue it
At the very least he was involved in suppressing FIFA's own investigation into corruption, so much so that the american former DA? quit in disgust at the cover up
I remember reading about a similar investigation by the FA a few Yeats ago by a retired police officer,cexactly same thing report suppressed, copper resigned
And only a few years ago Panorama exposed bung taking by teams fromcagents complete with video evidence and Luton manager Nike Newell claiming it was endemic throughout the UK,
Which FA promised to investigate fully examining every cilub in the country, ultimately finding them all innocent.... apart from Luton Town who received a record fine and points deduction, we t into receivership and were penalized and fined further
It's utter bobbins to suggest that Asian and African FAs are (alone or primarily) responsible for bribery. We know that the US FA was tainted, that the English and Australian FAs shovelled gifts and inducements onto the delegates to try to win bids, we know that FIFA and Blatter are Swiss...we know that Formula 1 is tainted (I was being sarcastic earlier, sorry for being opaque), we know that the Olympics are tainted (Salt Lake City, Taivanchik, Sochi construction, BHP bribery around the Beijing Olympics), we know that racing is bent, we know that betting rings rig European football games... These are not specifically Asian or African problems: this is a global problem. What's even more outrageous is that all of these sports receive wads of direct and indirect public subsidies from taxpayers.
The (English) FA should not be crowing: it should be feeling very nervous and looking back at the gifts and payments it made in order to try to "win" past tournaments.
@MSP, I didn't know that.
@kimbers yes I read yesterday that its quite likely the report will now be published in full.
@kona, I agree with much of what you've posted but paying for some expensive, even lavish dinners and some watches is really quite different from many tens of millions in cash wired to federations under the control of individuals.
Seems the star witness has been wearing a wire, so i guess the evidence is pretty damning.
I think they previously had plausible deniability*
Is this why he did not use mobile phone nor email? 'No, they never told me...'
Seems the star witness has been wearing a wire, so i guess the evidence is pretty damning.
You do get the feeling that they have some pretty good evidence going. Radio 4 was speaking of a report that was 'edited' before publication, that FBI and Swiss have a copy of original, and are using that as basis for much of the investigation and use of the source.
Is this why he did not use mobile phone nor email? 'No, they never told me...'
that would be my assumption ..he tried very hard to leave no evidence trail of what we all know was happening
I assume it was not good enough and they have a smoking gun as there is no other way he would have resigned
" paying for some...watches is really quite different from many tens of millions in cash wired to federations under the control of individuals."
only in scale, not in nature.
didn't the English FA also make all sorts of dubious grants and giveaways to other associations? maybe of course England is the exception - the one little incorruptible island among a sea of global filth. but it seems statistically improbable.
game, Sepp and match
konabunny - Member
" paying for some...watches is really quite different from many tens of millions in cash wired to federations under the control of individuals."
From the Oz FA
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-03/lowy-says-australias-world-cup-bid-was-clean/6519444?section=sport
"The centre asked Australia to donate $4 million to the project. We compromised and offered $500,000 to fund a preliminary feasibility study," Lowy said."We sent a team to examine the site. We engaged an external sports facilities consultant to visit the site and prepare a report. We met with CONCACAF officials to agree the terms.
"The chief executive of the Centre, not Warner, gave us the bank account details for CONCACAF. We paid the money into that account and received confirmation it was received by the bank. It was paid into a CONCACAF account, not Jack Warner's personal account.
"When CONCACAF contacted us to say they were conducting an inquiry into its accounts, we provided information about our donation.
"That inquiry - conducted by two former judges and a senior accountant - found that Jack Warner had committed fraud and misappropriated the funds - in other words he had stolen the money from CONCACAF. It also found other instances of wrongdoing by Warner over many years.
It's hard to say at this stage who's clean or who was just doing what was expected or how the cash influenced votes.
Though it is hard to look beyond holding a world cup in the desert in the middle of summer...
it was not a secret how these giveaways were treated or what Warner's reputation was...
it was not a secret how these giveaways were treated or what Warner's reputation was...
Its true enough there where many suspicions in the public domain but not proof, that's coming now.
So the Irish took a 5m (dollar or euro ?) hush money payment to drop legal action over Thierry's hand of god incident. Roy Keane has an 11am press conference, tht could be tricky.
South Africans have released another letter between them and FIFA/Valcke - seems clear to me they are trying to distance themselves from the $10m CONCAF payment, they don't want to make it - they want FIFA to make it. IMO they know it's not legit.
Exactly. Compare also the position of Football Federation Australia: "yes, we wanted to impress Warner three weeks before a vote, and sure, we were advised by two dodgy mates of Sepp Blatter to give half a million dollars for a 'feasibility study' for a football camp in Warner's backyard, and yes now you mention it, we paid it directly ourselves in order to short circuit public procurement rules when the federal government would have paid it if it were legit, but we are [i]incredibly surprised [/i]that Jack Warner helped himself to the money, it's quite the opposite from what we expected to happen..."
It's not his fault, he's been betrayed. I saw the trailer for a documentary about it:
FFS .. why doesnt someone sack him for bringing the organisation into disrepute .. he now says hes not resigning .. give him the p45 and escort out of the building.
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33284185
And another thing ma'am .. just one final word......and another ... and another .... etc
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I'm starting to develop a grudging respect for the man and the sheer scale of his you-can-all-just-****-off-ness
Well, the man is 'innocent until proven guilty', however it appears that he doesn't think he's not guilty enough to brave a flight to North America at the moment
You have to respect him for his thick skin and years of teflon behaviour. He's not done yet.
Indeed @pied he's not attending the ladies world cup as he knows there is a good chance he'll be arrested.
He's like the shitest Bond villain ever
Great news for football. Not.
who had today in the sweapstake?
I was expecting it would be about a month before he did an about-face
Monday's fifa press release will be about them moving the headquarters to a hollowed out volcanic island off the coast of North Korea
Breathtaking...
I used to work with a guy who was this slippery - it's a real art doing it with a straight face, quite fascinating to watch in action 😯
I *like* this;
"Protestor throws money at Sepp Blatter"
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during news conference for this:
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33595702?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central ]http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33595702?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central[/url]
That's quite a lengthy notice period.
it wasn't a protestor, it was unfunny comedian **** Lee Nelson
Hmm, "its noting to do wit footbal" I wonder if that's true, hard to know given that blatter said that.
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34363289 ]Noose tightening? [/url]
Seems to be increasingly hard to hide bad behaviour these days...
Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Visa and Budweiser have all come out and said that it is time for Sepp to walk the plank. He will be out of the door by Monday.
blimey ..this took some time.. shouldve shunted him out the minute the he brought the fifa into direpute. What about Greg dyke and the FA. I find the handling of Carniero really poor. If it was about race the cops would be all over it, Jose would be forced to apologise and paraded around doing the Respect campaign.
Its quite telling that the Respect Campaign only focusses on Colour and ethnicity. What about the sexist and homophobic abuse doled out on the terraces let alone in the dressing room.
Respect equality and not just colour
The FA/ FIFA/ UEFA all exist in some sort of 1950s ethical timewarp