Blattering Over Africa

FIFA President Sepp Blatter is not a happy man. Apparently, top European clubs, including several from the Premiership, have incensed the old boy by having the effrontery to complain about the African Cup of Nations at a time when he is busy suggesting that Africa should be given a bigger presence, even at the World Cup.

How can the clubs possibly have a case? They knew when they signed these players that once every two years the African nations meet for a tournament and they would be compelled to release these lads on full pay at a crucial time in the domestic season, and if they got injured playing on some pretty dodgy surfaces, that’s just bad luck. And as for daring to suggest that the tournament might be staged at a more appropriate time…well, you can’t expect Sepp to take that sort of impertinence lying down.

So in his official capacity, he has made a speech, designed to deliver a warning – a sort of yellow card – and to emphasise that this was “about respect”. That was the clincher. After all, who better than Sepp Blatter to pontificate about respect? The man who railed about “pornographic amounts of money” in the game. The man who claimed that he could solve Wayne Rooney’s disciplinary problems at a stroke by giving the lad a good clip round the ear. The man who wants to impose restrictions on the number of ‘foreign’ players premiership clubs can field. The man who leads an organisation which by some cock-eyed democracy pronounces Didier Drogba the 10th best player in the world – ahead, amongst others, of Ronaldo, Zidane, Beckham and Rooney.

In recent years the African nations have emerged, with some decent teams and several top players, to impress Mr Blatter and enlist his wholehearted support for their cause. As more and more Asian teams and players promise to do the same, it will be interesting to see how he proposes in the future to fit them all in.