I am not a sheep, I have my own mind
I have had enough of being told what and how to think
Whilst we are still allowed the remnants of free speech,
I will speak out.
I also reserve the right to discuss less controversial matters should I feel the urge.
'... this electoral process is anything but an election.This (election) process is a plebiscite for the delivery of absolute power to one man - something I refuse to go along with.'
'Football's world governing body Fifa is under growing pressure from a number of sponsors after its decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.Sony, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Visa and Hyundai/Kia have expressed concern over claims of wrongdoing in the bidding process.In total, five of Fifa's six main sponsors have issued statements relating to the Qatar bid.Only airline Emirates has so far declined to comment.Oil company BP and the maker of Budweiser beer, who also sponsor the World Cup, have also registered their concerns.'
'The man at the centre of recent bribery allegations in world football, Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, has resigned from his post.I would have thought that the relevant FIFAstatement would have explained better what had happened and maybe why:
He had already been suspended, but now the inquiry into whether he was involved in any corruption at the heart of the game has been dropped.'
"As a consequence of Mr Warner's resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained,"
"You don't have to believe me, you don't have to like me, nobody has to eat with me, drink with me or sleep with me but Jesus Christ, take the truth when you see it."The BBC report that Jack Warner is not happy:
Sepp Blatter, Mohammed Bin Hammam and Jack Warner; that FIFA really does have it all.'Suspended Fifa vice-president Jack Warner has made public an e-mail that claims Mohamed Bin Hammam "bought" the 2022 World Cup finals for Qatar.
The e-mail, seemingly from Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke, also questions why Asian confederation chief Bin Hammam was running for Fifa president.
Valcke wrote: "[Hammam] thought you can buy Fifa as they bought the World Cup".'
'I couldn't resist looking at FIFA's finances. In 2009 they had revenue of about $1bn. Of that, the vast bulk - $0.9bn - came from the World Cup (which only happens once every four years but the revenues are spread out across all years).Burning Our Money also has an idea for those who fund FIFA:
FIFA's world Cup revenues come from broadcast rights and marketing (mainly corporate sponsorship). World Cup ticket revenues go to the host organiser (which would be the FA here).
The biggest chunk is broadcasting rights which seem to have totalled well over $2bn for the last WC in South Africa. But the interesting thing is that the sources of this broadcasting revenue are highly concentrated. Well over 50% comes from Europe. Adding in Asia takes the total up to 80%. Yet despite this, Europe and Asia combined only get 50% of votes on the FIFA Executive Committee. And my bet is that if we could see a revenue breakdown within Europe and Asia, we'd find some even more startling concentrations. '
'The obvious question is why don't the footballing authorities in the major revenue generating countries get together and do a complete Premier League style breakaway from the sleazy dysfunctional FIFA? Organise their own World Cup, to be rotated between them. Of course, we'd expect the big Latin American countries to be included as well, but on my count, there'd be no more than ten in the core group. Which would give each of them the tournament once every 40 years.Interesting idea, no?
Naturally every country in the world would be invited to compete, just as now. But the competition would always be held in one of the big footballing nations.'
'The 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids have been hit by a series of corruption allegations resulting in the suspension of Nigerian Fifa executive Amos Adamu who allegedly guaranteed his vote for £500,000.'A Nigerian involved in allegations of corruption; whatever next!
