Blatter attacks English 'arrogance' after World Cup 2018 failure

| Friday December 10, 2010 00:00

'To be honest, I was surprised by all the English complaining after the defeat. England, of all people, the motherland of fair play ideas,' said Blatter.

'Now some of them are showing themselves to be bad losers. You can't come afterwards and say so and so promised to vote for England. The results are known. The outcome came out clearly.'

Senior England 2018 bid executives have complained that certain executive committee members promised them their vote before switching to their rivals, leaving them with only two votes. The chief executive, Andy Anson, said Blatter had also reminded them of the 'evils of the media' ahead of the vote, in the wake of investigations by the Sunday Times and the BBC's Panorama into Fifa corruption.

The prime minister, David Cameron, was on Wednesday asked in parliament what he thought about the global governing body after his experience of England's World Cup bid. 'I certainly learned one thing which is when it comes to breaking promises, politicians have got nothing on football management,' he said, laughing.

Blatter claimed the response showed a misplaced sense of entitlement. England, Australia and the USA all criticised the opaque voting process and said that if the rationale was to take the tournament to new frontiers, that should have been made clear from the start.

'I really sense in some reactions a bit of the arrogance of the western world of Christian background. Some simply can't bear it if others get a chance for a change,' Blatter told the Swiss weekly magazine Weltwoche.

'What can be wrong if we start football in regions where this sport demonstrates a potential which goes far beyond sport?'

Blatter, apparently obsessed with the idea of taking football to new territories, said: 'It's my philosophy to drive forward the expansion of football. The next regions that we need to conquer would be China and India.'

He added: 'Football has become a political matter. Heads of state court me. Football has become a monster, but it's a positive monster.' Blatter dismissed suggestions that Fifa officials are tempted to cash in on football's global importance: 'Nobody can come along and simply hold out their hand. There are no rotten eggs.' He rejected corruption allegations and said he was being targeted by anti-Fifa journalists: 'There is no systematic corruption in Fifa. That is nonsense. We are financially clean and clear.'

In the wake of the Sunday Times' revelations, six senior Fifa officials were suspended over damning bribery allegations and Panorama, aired three days before the vote, said three members of the executive committee were among those named in a list detailing $100m (£63.2m) in bribes paid over a 10-year period.

But Blatter admitted Fifa could not act as if nothing had happened, adding he wanted to set up a taskforce to look into compliance issues, without giving details: 'We need to improve our image. We also need to clarify some things within Fifa.'

Blatter singled out the case of Issa Hayatou, the president of African football's governing body. 'He was portrayed as criminal by the media, because his federation supposedly took $25,000. I can tell you: Hayatou is the son of a sultan and hasn't done anything wrong,' he said. Asked about calls by Cameron for reform, Blatter said: 'Prime minister Cameron is heartily invited to make his proposals.' (Guardian)