Whats wrong with football?

[reeves4england]

Asked if the FA had damaged the image of football's world governing body, Dyke said: "I think it's quite hard to damage the image of Fifa."

[Ginginho]

Indeed.

It's like being accused by Jeremy Clarkson of being a cunt.

[pauld]

Bury's new owner's company borrows £450k from a company called Cash4Assets, secured against the club's ground (even though the loan is not for the club but his private company), then rolls it up to a £1m loan, at 138% pa interest, still secured on the ground. Wow. That makes Bournemouth's 6 or 7% or whatever it was look like Bank of Mum and Dad.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2014/nov/12/bury-high-interest-loans-shadow-recovery

[Tails]

I've given this some thought. I reckon fans could do it by threatening the main FIFA/World Cup sponsors. Either Blatter goes or we boycott all of the sponsors still associating themselves with them. Provided you got enough fans on board it would work. He'd be gone once the sponsors thought there was a genuine threat.

I did think about putting a web page up and some stuff on Facebook, Twitter and all that to try and get the ball rolling. But I can't be arsed. Maybe one for the TEF Pressure Group. Or whatever it was called.

People boycotting Coca Cola and McDonalds? Yeah, good luck with that one.

[Reg Smeeton]

I've given this some thought. I reckon fans could do it by threatening the main FIFA/World Cup sponsors. Either Blatter goes or we boycott all of the sponsors still associating themselves with them. Provided you got enough fans on board it would work. He'd be gone once the sponsors thought there was a genuine threat.

I did think about putting a web page up and some stuff on Facebook, Twitter and all that to try and get the ball rolling. But I can't be arsed. Maybe one for the TEF Pressure Group. Or whatever it was called.

Very difficult to co-ordinate even in this cyber age, but if it could be got up and running, then the FIFA sponsors would act rapidly.

Reminds me of the anti-apartheid campaign, to boycott Barclays Bank in the 70's.....Barclays invested heavily in Saffaland, and there was a campaign to get people, mostly students, to switch accounts and generally do what they could by legal means to flag up Barclays involvement.

Barclays, share of the domestic market dropped, and by the 80's they'd pulled out of SA.

[jonny72]

People boycotting Coca Cola and McDonalds? Yeah, good luck with that one.

Not really about whether people actually boycott their products or not. You just need enough people saying they will to get the ball rolling and then the damage will be done. The press will cover it, negative publicity, share prices could drop and at the end of the day the companies just wouldn't want to take the risk.

They wouldn't terminate their sponsorship deals but they'd make a few phone calls and he'd be gone. Pretty sure they've stepped in a couple of times before and things have happened, Suarez at the World Cup for example. They're the only people FIFA and UEFA listen to.

Very difficult to co-ordinate even in this cyber age, but if it could be got up and running, then the FIFA sponsors would act rapidly.

It would be simple to get up and running, a website and some Facebook, Twitter pages/accounts. The issue would be getting people to register their support, would require a lot of people pushing it on forums, social networking and so on. Then it's just whether it gains critical mass or not.

[pauld]

Might be worth suggesting it to someone like the Football Supporters Federation, jonny? http://www.fsf.org.uk/ More chance of gaining critical mass going via an established network than the TEF pressure group

[tans]

@football_league: BREAKING: Final round of @SkyBetLeague1 matches this season will be played at 12.15pm on Sunday 3rd May >> http://t.co/DM18Z4660J #KeyDates

Cunts

Everyone likes to get lashed up last game of the season

[pauld]

@football_league: BREAKING: Final round of @SkyBetLeague1 matches this season will be played at 12.15pm on Sunday 3rd May >> http://t.co/DM18Z4660J #KeyDates

Cunts

Everyone likes to get lashed up last game of the season

Well, you'll just have to book her for earlier in the day

[Summerof69]

@football_league: BREAKING: Final round of @SkyBetLeague1 matches this season will be played at 12.15pm on Sunday 3rd May >> http://t.co/DM18Z4660J #KeyDates

I hate early kick-offs...let alone on a Sunday

[jonny72]

Might be worth suggesting it to someone like the Football Supporters Federation, jonny? http://www.fsf.org.uk/ More chance of gaining critical mass going via an established network than the TEF pressure group

I'd refer you to my previous "can't be arsed" comment.

Though now is the time for it - plenty of stories in the media about FIFA sponsors not being happy with what is going on, Emirates withdrawing it's sponsorship (though that is probably for other reasons) and Sony considering it. They just need a bit of a push and it would be game over for Blatter.

Still think it is one for the TEF Pressure Group, a slightly more worthy cause than "goldfish bowl of the month" and on a par with "vote for my mate's slightly pornographic photo's".

[Barry Scott]

FIFA propaganda at it's best.

[pauld]

I'd refer you to my previous "can't be arsed" comment.

Though now is the time for it - plenty of stories in the media about FIFA sponsors not being happy with what is going on, Emirates withdrawing it's sponsorship (though that is probably for other reasons) and Sony considering it. They just need a bit of a push and it would be game over for Blatter.

Still think it is one for the TEF Pressure Group, a slightly more worthy cause than "goldfish bowl of the month" and on a par with "vote for my mate's slightly pornographic photo's".

Think they might need a bit more of a push than 40-odd Swindon fans. And if you can't be arsed, why should we?

[jonny72]

Think they might need a bit more of a push than 40-odd Swindon fans. And if you can't be arsed, why should we?

Apart from the can't be arsed angle, I don't believe getting rid of Blatter will actually change anything. His position will be filled by someone in the same vein as there just isn't anyone near the top of world football capable of what is needed. I don't see Platini as being any better and don't even get me started on Greg Dyke.

It's a fucking mess. Think Lineker hit the nail on the head saying we need to rip it up and start again.

Maybe we need to start a campaign for Lineker to get the job?

[ghanimah]

Apart from the can't be arsed angle, I don't believe getting rid of Blatter will actually change anything. His position will be filled by someone in the same vein as there just isn't anyone near the top of world football capable of what is needed. I don't see Platini as being any better and don't even get me started on Greg Dyke.

It's a fucking mess. Think Lineker hit the nail on the head saying we need to rip it up and start again.

Maybe we need to start a campaign for Lineker to get the job?

I would agree with Lineker, FIFA is probably unredeemable. It needs destroying and starting again. The European Football Associations have the power to destroy FIFA by resigning en masse. Fat chance of that though as it currently stands.

The World Cup clearly shouldn't take place in Qatar for obviously reasons which have been well-rehearsed. So we can express our objections by hitting where it hurts - money. Boycott the tournament and 'empty seat' the stadiums, they never like that, and as noted earlier on here target sponsors which has been an effective weapon in the past. They're already getting cold feet over Qatar

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/08/sport/football/world-cup-qatar-sony-fifa/

On not an entirely unrelated note, the Telegraph had this recently regarding protests over Ched Evans

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/sheffield-united/11226544/It-is-right-to-protest-to-Sheffield-United-sponsors-over-Ched-Evans-they-are-the-only-ones-likely-to-act.html