What Will Sepp Blatter Do Now?
Lord Triesman didn’t hold his punches when in front of a parliamentary committee, he accused four FIFA members of improper behaviour over the bidding for the 2018 World Cup.
If I was Lord Triesman, I would take a few places of the list of where I might go for a holiday.
Is This Why We Didn’t Get the 2018 World Cup?
The Sunday Times is claiming that Nicholas Leoz of Paraguay wanted a knighthood to vote for England to be given the 2018 World Cup. So how many other of the world’s bad and nasty, who have the power in FIFA did we turn down? Obviously, Russia and Qatar, put a much better case to these idiots. Probably stuffed with used euros or dollars.
Did Jack Warner Ask for a Bribe?
Read this story from the Press Association about a possible meeting between Jack Warner and two of the leaders of the England 2018 World Cup Bid team.
I thought when I read the article in The Times this morning that Mr. Warner might consider it to be a libel. Let’s hope he tries to prove it in a UK Court of Law! I’m sure Rupert Murdoch would enjoy the challenge.
I’m very much against libel tourism, but in this case I might be prepared to make an exception.
What Are the Odds on England Staging the 2014 World Cup?
According to The Times today, the progress for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil is virtually non-existent, with stadia and transport links, either not planned or years late.
FIFA would never take the World Cup away from Brazil, but where will they stage it in that country? I’m told the beaches are nice, even if the stadia are crap!
There are only a handful of countries that are ready to stage an event like the World Cup tomorrow, of which England and the United States are two. But as they aren’t on Sepp Blatter’s Christmas Card list, it would be unlikely they’d be given the chance.
But then the finals will have to be played somewhere!
Spammer Responsible for a third of all Spam in Court
I like this story from The Register. Here’s the first few paragraphs.
A Russian who allegedly at one time ran a network of compromised machines responsible for a third of global spam appeared in federal court in Wisconsin on Friday to deny the charges.
Oleg Y Nikolaenko, 23, a resident of Moscow, faces charges that he forged email spam messages in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act, following his arrest in Las Vegas’ Bellagio Hotel last month.
Prosecutors allege that the Russian was responsible for pumping out a staggering 10 billion spam messages per day, touting penis pills and counterfeit goods using the infamous Mega-D botnet network.
I wonder how many spam e-mails we’re going to see from Russia selling tickets, hotels and flights to the World Cup in 2018? Probably none, as Putin has given Sepp Blatter his word!
Beckham Plays it Straight!
My late wife always reckoned that Seb Coe’s speech in Singapore to win the 2012 Olympics for London was one of the best speeches she’d ever heard and she’d heard a lot as a barrister for some really hopeless causes.
Today, David Beckham has given a wonderfully crafted press conference in Zurich, as England try to win the World Cup for 2018. If we don’t win, we won’t be able to blame him! But then he’s got too much London and Essex in his DNA not to give it his best shot.
They even asked him whether he had an invite to the Royal Wedding! That’s the main reason of course why we won’t win. Prince William and Kate Middleton won’t be inviting Sep Blatter!
Have the BBC Shot Themselves in the Foot?
Panorama tonight reports that members of FIFA have taken bribes in the past. I would not know if they have, but then the records of the worlds’ top sporting bodies on corruption is generally not as snow white as it should be.
But I would not like to be the man from the BBC negotiating the next set of TV rights for the World Cup. I suspect that the matches won’t be shown on the BBC.
Have Manchester United Done the Right Thing?
Today Manchester United bought Nobby Stiles’ medals from the World and European Cups.
Nothing has been said yet about what they are going to do with them, but I hope that they put them on display in a suitable museum, as they are part of our footballing history!
I would hate to think of them being kept in a safe or a trophy cabinet with no access to the general public.
Can FIFA be Trusted?
Yet again we’re seeing allegations abut the voting for a major sports event. In this case it’s the 2018 World Cup, with delegates from Nigeria and Tahiti being accused of being prepared to sell their votes.
FIFA seem to be taking control, but I do wonder if their voting structure makes it very difficult to get everything squeaky clean.
The Anonymous Widower 