Just hours after the FIFA president criticised the criminal investigation on him by the Swiss Attorney General as ‘outrageous’, comes the news that poor old Sep Blatter is to be dealt a 90 day provisional suspension by the organisations ethics committee
Blatter is accused of signing a contract “unfavourable” to football’s governing body, namely a 2005 TV rights deal between Fifa and Jack Warner, and making a “disloyal payment” to Michel Platini in 2011 – a payment that the Uefa president maintains was a for past contract work – over nine years prior.
The suspension has to be confirmed by German Judge Hans Joachim Eckhert, chairman of the Ethics Committee’s adjudicatory chamber, a decision likely to be made on Thursday.
After firstly announcing he’s set to leave his position months prior due to some pretty hefty action by the US, cheeky chappy Blatter mentioned he will leave his position in around a years time just prior to the elections.
Well, it seems Sky News’ sports correspondent Paul Kelso thinks that the ruling could rid us all the president much quicker than that, saying the 90-day suspension is “very, very significant news”, mentioning that if the judge pushed through with the suspension it “could very well be the end of Mr Blatter’s 17 rocky years in power”.
Speaking to the BBC, Blatter’s adviser Klauss Stohlker responded with: “The news was communicated to the president this afternoon. He is calm. Remember he is the father of the ethics committee.
“This is provisional for 90 days but he is not actually suspended. The committee has not yet made a decision and their meetings continue.”
“This is certainly not the way Sepp Blatter wanted to leave Fifa. He wanted to go out having restored some credibility and integrity to his own role, and to Fifa itself.”
Quite.