FA still anxious to put its nose in the trough even further

By Tony Attwood

So where have we got to?

The first extraordinary thing about all this Fifa malarky was the fact that Fifa could have avoided the trouble either by keeping an eye on the change made to Swiss law last December, which allowed the Americans to get arrest warrants executed on Swiss soil.  You’d have thought that an organisation with their much money might have been a trifle careful.

Or indeed as I might have pointed out once or twice before they could have read Untold where we not only said the law changed, but also noted the view that Fifa will probably change the location of its next gathering to a country that didn’t have such a deal.  Even I didn’t think they were so stupid as to turn up again.

Perhaps the second extraordinary thing is that one might have expected the FA to have pulled back from its association with Fifa.  It has after all paid dues to the organisation, and spent £16m in a bid to hold one of its awful events (no tax will be paid by Fifa on any event, only our endorsed products will be sold, and we want our own lane on the motorway to and from the airports and in each city).

But even that is outdone by the fact that the utterly shameless FA and the British government is even now trying to do more business with Fifa – and the British media is talking this bid up.

At least the chairman of Football Federation Australia, Frank Lowy, has come out and said that his nation’s failed 2022 World Cup bid was “naive”.  No such admission from the FA on its last bid.

In Australia journalists are calling for the head of their FA to resign.  In England there is the announcement that we are ready to take over the World Cup when asked.

The head of the Australian bid has at least said of that time, “But did we make mistakes? Yes. Were we naive? In some cases, yes. Would we do things differently in future? Absolutely.”  From the FA, nothing much along the same lines.

But gradually the net is extending.  The latest incident to get caught up was the match between Ireland and France in which Thierry Henry was thought to have handballed the ball, but a goal was given.

This was a typical ref error – they go on all the time.  We chart them on Untold.  They happen because Fifa and Uefa won’t endorse full and proper use of technology and leave each association to run its own refereeing system.  That is how we ended up with the secretive bunch of turnips known as PGMO running refereeing in the Premier League.

Mind you that Henry handball affair might explain why France voted for Blatter at the Fifa election.

Anyway, it seems, in the aftermath Fifa paid Ireland €5m.  Now you’d think that if there was any dispute over what the money was for someone would pop up and show the invoice or a receipt.  But no, this is world football, of which the FA in England is proud to be a part.  The FAI say it was a for not taking Fifa to court.   Fifa says it was a ‘loan to build stadium’ which was subsequently written off when Ireland didn’t make it to the world cup finals.

Strange that no one in Ireland ever told us about this at the time.

Still, I think the strain of trying to maintain such an impossible position as they are now holding is starting to show on our media.  Today in the Independent for example there is a headline on their football pages on line that says, “Arsenal hungry to win the FA cup.”  But maybe they are just being forward looking.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale is still maintaining the view that because we have such a wonderful FA who has done so much for grassroots football (ok he didn’t say that, but he must see the irony) we should bid for the 2022 world cup, which must be voted for again.

And who will pay?  The FA.

And where will it get that money from?  By going deeper into debt and building even fewer grassroots pitches.

He also called the last FA bid for a world cup, “impressive”.  Men in white coats were seen hovering near by.

“If Fifa came forward and asked us to consider hosting it, we have the facilities in this country and of course we did mount a very impressive, if unsuccessful bid to host the 2018 World Cup.”

Men in white coats edged forwards.

Mind you we should not be surprised.   The guest speaker at the Football Association’s 150th Anniversary dinner a couple of years back was… Mr Blatter.

So who could stop Fifa?

Obviously the FBI, obviously not the FA who want to work with them.  But others could do their bit

The Associations – such as Uefa – could say Fifa is tainted beyond rescue, and set up an alternative.

The players could actually have a voice, but remain utterly quiet. They actually seem to like the jollies, even if they result in injury.  Maybe if club contracts were changed so an injury on a non-club jaunt would result in a pay cut?  But no, I can’t see Man C going along with that.

Mind you Gary Neville thought they could.  “Players must lead revolution to topple Sepp Blatter and his obscene Fifa regime” is how the press previewed his latest on the topic.  “Protests from fans and pundits are not enough – if stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi boycotted the World Cup…” Hmmm.  Maybe.

The sponsors of course could, but they have their noses so far up their own arses they can’t even see the way some of us despise them. McDonald’s sponsoring a sporting activity is just obscene anyway.

The broadcasters – but they love the coverage and pay to do it.

In the end it is just down to us to keep commentating I guess.

Except that, all this has been going on for so long – goodness knows when the first Fifa corruption stories emerged, but the latest bout started in October 2010 with reports that the Oceania Football Confederation, had been offered vast amounts of money to support certain world cup bids.
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Soon after the leader of Spain and Portugal’s bid accused the FA of doing a deal with the USA over a bid in breach of Fifa regulations.  Chuck Blazer then said that no hard evidence had been passed to its ethics committee so they couldn’t investigate.
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So that was all right, because Chuck Blazer is… (don’t answer that!)
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Details of corruption in relation to Qatar’s bid emerged at the same time – in 2010.
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And still all this time the FA were prepared not just to bend the knee to Fifa but actually promote Fifa, and choose its president as the guest of honour at its 150th birthday bash.
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“It makes you want to spit,” as my dear old (and very fondly remembered) dad, used to say.
—————-
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We are Twittering @UntoldArsenal
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The books

Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years

Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910

The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal

24 Replies to “FA still anxious to put its nose in the trough even further”

  1. The FA is as disreputable as FIFA, in ways which have been well documented on this site.

    The hypocrisy and mock outrage from Mr. Dyke is staggering. Maybe the press should remind us about the story of the watches and Mulberry handbags, but I don’t suppose that they will.

  2. When the results of the first round of voting was announced during the recent FIFA elections, I was nder the impression that the delegates would sit and take notice that , if a previously non entity like Prince Ali had garnered 73 votes , maybe something was not quite right .
    I was waiting for a backlash , and to see many more jump on the NO bandwagon . But alas , the Prince ( smartly ?) pulled out and Herr Septic Bladder was given the clear mandate of same old , same old.
    What got me pissed off was that there were many who gave a standing ovation to the old coot . Hope you guys are proud of yourselves . Some of you will probably be visited by the feds .
    My advice ? Sing ! Sing out loud ! Or move to countries that have no extradition treaty with the US.

  3. In fairness, the FA have not said that they would be looking to make a multi million pound bid for the 2022 WC or indeed that they are even considering such a move, but would be in a position to step in and stage the tourney “if asked to”, although Greg Dyke suggests USA would most likely be the best ones to do this due to not having consecutive World Cups in Europe.
    I would say though that our FA are being a bit creative here and looking to restore their tarnished image.

  4. “Men in white coats were seen hovering near by.” and “Men in white coats edged forwards.” had me spill my tea on my computer screen Tony 🙂 Shame on you 🙂

    In a way this whole Fifa thing is unbelievable for words. The only way forward is to start with a complete new organisation and nobody who has been involved in Fifa should be allowed in. NOBODY!

  5. If Ireland gets 5 million euros for a handball that led to a goal shouldn’t England get 3000 million pounds for a Maradona handball that scored a goal in the finals!!! Where the FCUK are the FA? They just don’t have the balls to fight dirty with FIFA.

    It is just unbelievable!!!

  6. why did they pay the 5million? FIFA did not ref the game,a mistake by the ref happens all the time in matches .By giving the Irish the cash surely they are admitting some sought of collusion.

  7. It is not clear to me. What did Ireland do with the £5 million they received?

  8. I think one episode that had inadvertently happened should be continued with. The World Cup hosting is now being rotated in between the Fifa 6 confederations. And that is a progress that should continue. I think England best bet is to stage the 2018 World Cup by default if Russia should be stripped off their hosting right for erasing their bidding Data on the computer to submerge any incriminating evidence that can incriminate them of any wrong doings. What is it that they are hiding and don’t want people to known? Are their hands clean? I think President Putin thought he is smart. But unfortunately for him, his impunity of annexation of Crimea and his invasion of Ukraine can not be extended to the Swiss and the FBI criminal investigators that could leave MR Putin’s Russia void to host the 2018 World Cup after being possibly incriminated with hard incriminating evidence. And any display of heavy armament a a show of fascism and possible invasion of Fifa by MR, Putin will not make Russia to host the 2018 tournament if they are found wanting of breaching the bidding process to host the event. I hope Uefa and the FA will not be afraid of MR. Putin and get panicked under his threats. Because I known he MR. Putin will threaten to cut the gas supply lines to Western Europe for daring his face. And he will surely boycott the 2018 event if it is taken away from (him) Russia. Let him boycott it. We have seen that boycott episode before as they have once boycotted one of the the Olympic games that was hosted by the USA. I believe the new Fifa executives that we are hopping to have on board sooner than later can handle boycotts successfully by any nuclear power nation.

  9. I think one episode that had inadvertently happened should be continued with. The World Cup hosting is now being rotated in between the Fifa 6 confederations. And that is a progress that should continue. I think England best bet is to stage the 2018 World Cup by default if Russia should be stripped off their hosting right for erasing their bidding Data on the computer to submerge any incriminating evidence that can incriminate them of any wrong doings. What is it that they are hiding and don’t want people to known? Are their hands clean? I think President Putin thought he is smart. But unfortunately for him, his impunity of annexation of Crimea and his invasion of Ukraine can not be extended to the Swiss and the FBI criminal investigators that could leave MR Putin’s Russia void to host the 2018 World Cup after being possibly incriminated with hard incriminating evidence. And any display of heavy armament a a show of fascism and possible invasion of Fifa by MR, Putin will not make Russia to host the 2018 tournament if they are found wanting of breaching the bidding process to host the event. I hope Uefa and the FA will not be afraid of MR. Putin and get panicked under his threats. Because I known he MR. Putin will threaten to cut the gas supply lines to Western Europe for daring his face. And he will surely boycott the 2018 event if it is taken away from (him) Russia. Let him boycott it. We have seen that boycott episode before as they have once boycotted one of the the Olympic games that was hosted by the USA. I believe the new Fifa executives that we are hopping to have on board sooner than later can handle boycotts successfully from any nuclear power nation.

  10. I think one episode that had inadvertently happened should be continued with. The World Cup hosting right is now being rotated in between the Fifa 6 confederations. And that is a progress that should continue. I think England best bet is to stage the 2018 World Cup by default if Russia should be stripped off their hosting right for erasing their bidding Data on the computer to submerge any incriminating evidence that can incriminate them of any wrong doings. What is it that they are hiding and don’t want people to known? Are their hands clean? I think President Putin thought he is smart. But unfortunately for him, his impunity of annexation of Crimea and his invasion of Ukraine can not be extended to the Swiss and the FBI criminal investigators that could leave MR Putin’s Russia void to host the 2018 World Cup after being possibly incriminated with hard incriminating evidence. And any display of heavy armament and a show of fascism and possible invasion of Fifa by MR, Putin will not make Russia to host the 2018 tournament if they are found wanting of breaching the bidding process to host the event. I hope Uefa and the FA will not be afraid of MR. Putin and get panicked under his threats. Because I known he MR. Putin will threaten to cut the gas supply lines to Western Europe for daring his face. And he will surely boycott the 2018 event if it is taken away from (him) Russia. Let him boycott it. We have seen that boycott episode before as they have once boycotted one of the the Olympic games that was hosted by the USA. I believe the new Fifa executives that we are hopping to have on board sooner than later can handle boycotts successfully from any nuclear power nation. And less I forget please, should Qatar be stripped off their hosting rights, the event should still be staged in the Middle East nations by a Middle East country that are capable of staging the World Cup. It is the turn of the Middle East to stage the event as the rotation of it has given them that right to stage it.

  11. Tony – please delete the fisrt 2 comments of SAA. The 3rd one is complete.

  12. Surely the FA should currently be working on their legal case against FIFA to get their/our £16m back given the process was seemingly corrupt. That also begs the question that if the FA suspected the process to be corrupt, why on earth did they take part in it? I would respectfully suggest it’s because they are completely and utterly useless…………….but that’s just a guess

  13. And as an afterthought, if we were to be OFFERED the World Cup because few, if any, other countries are in a position to host it, then surely FIFA should be paying us for digging them out of a steaming pile of the stuff.

    On that topic, I heard one news outlet say the other day that it’s unlikely that England could do host it as they would be unable to fully comply with all the required regulations…………….as laid down by FIFA………………..FFS!

  14. The FIFA payment proves that the referee’s decision is not final!! It proves that there is a case for CAS to hear if there are strange decisions in a football match. The Henry handball was nothing compared to Maradona’s deliberate cheating that has never been punished nor has ever been apologised for. At least Henry admitted he handled the ball but the official didn’t want to reverse his mistake.

    I wonder if Arsenal should look into challenging some of the decisions this season. It could result in the most interesting title race!!! Come on Silent Stan Kronke lets see how good your lawyers are.

  15. Menace, I doubt Arsenal will want to challenge, even if we were sure of winning. Arsenal and I want to win PL next season straight out and not in retrospect. How about you? 🙂

    At least things seem to be happening. Maybe this is a step to the “global” football organisation that governs football from Int, CL, various PLs, well all football. Each organisation in each country have to abide by the rules set.
    The hard part would be drawing up rules to suit everyone. It seems to be the nature in the current world to make sure you get enough and fuxx everyone else.

    I still think we need a global REFs organisation too, what ever happens, with league tables to reward refs for performance, so that football across the world will be playing by the same rules. WALTER how about many articles on that if many agree? Things seem to happen when UNTOLD reports it. 🙂

  16. Just kidding with the suggestion 😉 . I know that here ‘word is bond’ works & referees decision is final also works. Cannot believe the shenanigans that FIFA & the paddies got up to.

    The Laws of the Game & interpretation & notes to officials must be held by England as this is where the game originates. I agree with some kind of measure for officiating – perhaps based on coaches/managers awarding points out of 10 for each match. This will also force appointments to divided across the officials.

  17. @Goonermikey there are some demands that FIFA & the Olympics demand but we should never allow them special lanes & ‘control’ of our cities. They should be given escorts but nothing more. If they want to be on time then they should prepare like everyone else.

  18. There’s just too much money in football not to expect corruption. Money equals power and vice versa. Who’s to clean it up? Not anybody in football now. The Associations are corrupt worldwide. Evidence is now coming out and yet fans have known this for a long time and independent thinkers such as Tony Attwood have been writing about it for quite some time. The players might affect a change but they’re in thrall to the money and keep their mouths shut – probably under advice from their rapacious managers. A long time ago the ‘FIFA’ in FIFA World Cup became the prominent part of the tournament name. That’s when I started to tune out. Why the fuck should an organizing entity have TWO BILLION in the bank and pay no taxes anywhere on that money? To what end? I mostly follow the EPL run by the self-serving FA only because it’s the best League top to bottom in the world. And I like the UEFA Champions league, but if Platini manages to expand that tournament for revenue I won’t follow it. I mean now they have a tournament of 32! I can’t wait for the next tie between Qarabag and Skenderbeu! These large international organizing groups (FIFA, FIBA, the IOC, etc.) are self-serving and exist to monetarily exploit the passion of the sport fan. Not sub rosa, mind you, but in full view of the authorities. I say if two countries want to have a friendly, just play it. The fans will turn out if they feel the match worthwhile. With an agreed set of standardised rules why would a sport need these leeches? Money.

  19. Think that due to a lapse of a policy, the clubs, in theory can stop players going to FIFA tournaments, but for whatever reason, they seem unwilling,to do so, perhaps because the players want to go and have clauses in their contracts, perhaps because in the past at least, FIFA could make life difficult for anyone falling foul of them, as can UEFA as I am sure Mr Wenger and Mr Primorac are aware from the days of Marseilles.
    Our FA are beneath contempt, if FIFA need disbanding , so do the FA and all the ridiculous corrupt federations, with silly names, CONCACAFF,
    CONEMALL.
    Platini,also needs to go. All things to all men, happy to share darkened,rooms with criminals for years, they when it gets exposed, claims ignorance and positions himself at the head of a European cleanup . The most disturbing aspect of Platini is the migrant workers dying, then the fact that an ex player can vote for a summer,tournament….in the desert in the first place.
    Starting to agree with those who believe Platini to be the worst of the lot of the filth.

  20. Saying they all need to go, have no idea who to replace them with, but I am sure persons can be found that can do a better job than that shower

  21. The more I read about the current investigation into FIFA, the more I am convinced that the governing bodies of football, world-wide are all tainted to some degree or other with corruption.
    How on earth is the FIFA top echelon to be replaced with integrity?
    Our own FA has nothing to be proud of.
    When the Qatar and Russian World Cup bids are examined, the outcome will be a staggering example of the worst excesses possible of bribery and corruption.
    The trouble today is that the game of football has been overtaken by big business, due mainly to the associated income derived from global television and advertising.
    Some totally independent body simply must be found to govern world football….perhaps through the UN. Never again must the “beautiful game” be allowed to descend into the depths of corruption headed by the likes of Blatter and the legion of similar cohorts which I suspect are world-
    wide. 😉

  22. I think that the UK could stage an 2018 World Cup, if the bidding process is found to be rigged for Russia 2018. I say UK, and not England, because I think you would want to be able to use Millenium Stadium. I don’t think any government in the UK should put money into new facilities, at most just allow permits for construction. I can see a larger Anfield being useful, and I can see a larger Etihad Stadium being useful. ManC has money, they could make it bigger if that is useful to their plan. All they would need is permits to do so. Liverpool probably doesn’t have money, and I wouldn’t want them to get money. In the absence of Eithad and Anfield getting larger, having access to Hampden would be useful. There seem to be some big facilities in Ireland, but I have no idea if that can stage football. Another large facility is Twickenham.

    But that is an emergency world cup. Just looking through lists of large stadia, who else could stage an event with no construction required? The USA. I think there are some really good arguments for Brazil, I have no idea if they are interested, or if this would just cause more problems.

    Others?

  23. Maybe 2018 is too close , and the existing stadiums , including the Ems would be ‘forced’ to be ‘willing’ partners .
    2022 is time enough and feasible enough. And with
    a)the record of your sporting bodies’ propensity of ‘presenting’ spanking brand new stadiums to football clubs ( ManShitty & West Ham)free of charge after tournaments ,
    and
    b) at least two of the Premiership clubs in dire need of or about to build anew or to upgrade their stadiums, and
    c) the most logical WC sites being London and Liverpool,
    and
    d) obscene amounts of FIFA /FA/ sponsors’ money to be spent/earned /brandied about ,would it be just a coincidence , or a heavenly stroke of luck or maybe probably just great timing of being in the right place and at the right time , that such a most needed manna from above would all fall gently on to someone’s lap?
    Think about – a sudden and unforeseen(?) power vacuum ; with the urgent need to change horses in mid stream ; a willing , but poor,and needy pliable unseated ‘white’ knight (in dire need of a horse to save his kingdom); who just so happened to standing conveniently by ;
    and the crossing of palms with tainted pieces of silver by men of questionable virtues .All above board , of course ! All’s well that ends well.

    A farfetched conspiracy theory ? Maybe .But you read it here first !

  24. There was this greedy fat and squat king named Blatter ,
    who all the kingdoms jewels received on a silver platter.
    The shine of which made him crazier than the mad hatter .
    More !More!He cried and become even more grossly fatter.
    His quick end when it came, was truly a laughing matter,
    died on his poor broken crapper,the shit all a splatter!

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