Blatter blathers on

Tuesday, 30 June 09, 06:37 AM · Comments(2)

By Michael Sinnerton

Sepp Blatter's latest attack on the Premier League comes at a very strange time given Real Madrid's spending power. Blatter has expressed concern over the huge amount of money being pumped into English clubs by rich foreign owners. He claims the amount of cash in the Premier League gives our clubs an advantage over their European rivals.

"In France, Germany and Spain there are by-laws that say owners must be from the same country. This does not exist in the Premier League and it is a problem we must address." said Blatter.

Why? Why is foreign ownership something we must address? I'm all for having a better ‘fit and proper persons' test but surely the nationality of the owner(s) is the least relevant question of all? Given that Blatter himself admits that nothing can be done, "we (FIFA) have no right to interfere in economic movement", this seems to be another attack on the Premier League for little or no reason.

Whilst Sepp may have a point that there is too much financial clout in the game, surely FIFA should be spending their time working towards aims they can achieve. Introducing accurate goal-line technology seems to be such a simple thing to do yet Blatter claims the current technology is not accurate enough - something, which if true, highlights the slow progress made by FIFA.

Finally, whilst Real Madrid can claim to be Spanish owned, surely the fact that in the current financial climate they can have credit of up to £800m is more of a concern than whether a consortium comes from England, France or Dubai.

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