They say if you want to kill a snake you must cut off the head, and slithering fork-tongued reptiles don’t come much bigger than Sepp Blatter.
Now, finally and officially, the FIFA president has been kicked to the curb and I have no doubt there is more to come. Here’s all we know so far courtesy of the BBC:
FIFA has provisionally suspended its president Sepp Blatter, secretary general Jerome Valcke and vice-president Michel Platini for 90 days.
Former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon has been banned for six years and fined 100,000 Swiss Francs (R1,4 million).
The punishments were handed out by the ethics committee of football’s world governing body.
Blatter, Valcke and Uefa president Platini are being investigated by the committee over corruption allegations.
“The grounds for these decisions are the investigations that are being carried out by the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee,” it said in a statement.
The three are banned from any football activity in the interim. They deny any wrongdoing.
What exactly are they pinning ‘ol Sepp for then? I’m sure it will soon be a case of ‘where do we start’ but for now it’s a couple of incidents under the radar:
He is accused of signing a contract “unfavourable” to Fifa and making a “disloyal payment” to Platini – who is also president of European football’s governing body, Uefa.
The ethics committee also opened an inquiry into Platini over the 2m euro (R30 million) payment – which was made nine years after the 60-year-old carried out consultation work for Blatter.
Here’s more from the ethics committee via Sky:
“The duration of the bans may be extended for an additional period not exceeding 45 days…
“The proceedings against the South Korean football official Chung Mong joon were opened in January 2015 based on findings in the report on the investigation into the bidding process for the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cups.
That 90 days is hopefully just a start, and as the turncoats start to blab Sepp’s days look numbered. If VP Chung is saddled with six years the punishment for the man up top should, at the very least, be as extensive if not even harsher.
On your bike Sepp, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
