A lot of good has happened in football under this bloke...

[Karl]

...but I think he just stumbles along jump in two feet first and naturally gets some things right!

What is it they say about a 'sick' clock it is right twice per day?!

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Blatter demands action on tackles



Blatter is determined to take a hardline stance

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has called for lifetime bans and criminal prosecutions for players guilty of making dangerous tackles.


He has demanded a "zero tolerance" policy ahead of the International Board's weekend meeting at Gleneagles.

Blatter told The Times: "Dangerous tackling is one of the most important issues in football at the moment.
"Therefore players who do this kind of thing intentionally should be banned from the game."

He added: "Attacking somebody is criminal, whether it happens on a football pitch or elsewhere. It is a crime and should be treated as such."

Blatter also suggested managers were not helping the problem and he said: "The mechanism where this happens today is obvious.


You do not want football to be a non-contact sport - tackles are part of the game -
Man Utd winger Ryan Giggs

"The pressure on the coach or manager to win is such that he encourages his players to go for victory at any cost.

"There is no microphone in the dressing room, so he says, 'go, go, go'. Until when? Until the point where the referee intervenes."

Blatter also called on referees to be part of the crackdown, saying: "Some referees have in their mind 'how long can I let this game go without giving a card?'

"They think they are good referees if the game flows for 20 minutes without an interruption. But the referees must give yellow cards or red cards in the first three or four minutes if necessary and we will call for them to do so.

"Then the referee will have peace on the pitch. At the moment it is just not working.

"Before, the problem was tackling from behind, but now players are doing it from the front and from the side. This is a matter we will discuss this weekend.



"We will not only make recommendations to the referees, we will instruct them to be stronger against this violence."

But Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs believes such bans would be almost impossible to enforce.

"How would you govern that?" questioned Giggs. "It's hard to say in many cases if a player has gone out to injure someone. "You do not want football to be a non-contact sport. Tackles are part of the game. Equally you want them to be fair.

"You would need to bring ex-players onto a panel and be the judges as they would know."

[Karl]

Blatter faces player quota veto

By Saj Chowdhury



Blatter's player quota plan may not see the light of day



Fifa's plan to introduce a quota on foreign players has been struck a major blow by the European Commission.


Sepp Blatter, head of football's ruling body, was hoping to enforce his 6+5 rule that would stop clubs from playing more than five non-nationals in an XI.

"The implementation by Fifa of a 6+5 rule in the European Union would violate EU law," said an EC spokesman.

"The Commission is not considering any change to allow Fifa to push forward this idea. Fifa is aware of this fact."

A spokesman for football's governing body said they were not going to comment on the statements issued by the EC, who are the executive branch of the EU.

Despite the stance, Blatter is set to submit his idea to the Fifa Congress when it meets in Sydney on 29 and 30 May.



"Over the years and decades, by signing more and more foreign players, clubs have gradually lost their identity, first locally and regionally," said the Fifa president when explaining his proposal.

A Fifa statement said that Blatter "will not tackle supranational organisations such as the EU but rather convince them of Fifa's approach".

Blatter is holding out hope that the mention of the specificity of sport in a new European Treaty will give concession to his idea.

But the EC said that would not happen and that his plan would still be considered "illegal".

"It would appear that the wording of the new provision on sport in the Treaty is causing Mr Blatter and colleagues to conclude that the quota idea may yet see implementation because the new Treaty also mentions the 'specificity of sport'," continued the EC statement.

"It is extremely unlikely that the new Treaty provision on sport would lead to a new legal situation.


There now needs to be a very, very careful analysis of what the legal requirements are or are not about the employment of players
- FA chairman Lord Triesman

"Hence, a system of quotas based on nationality, as proposed by Blatter, is illegal under the current acquis and will remain illegal under the new Treaty."

Blatter's concept has already been met with concerns from Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell, who said the club will "absolutely" oppose the plan.

"Within football at the moment there are already enough restrictions being imposed on clubs without further ones being applied," he added.

The Premier League also reiterated its opposition to the proposal during Tuesday's Culture, Media and Sport Committee meeting in London.
But Football Association chairman Lord Triesman hinted that the introduction of quotas should be given consideration. "There now needs to be a very, very careful analysis of what the legal requirements are or are not about the employment of players but also what may be the regulations about how many start in games - which may not be the same," he stated.