The FAI were the first organisation to come out and publicly announce their intention to vote against Sepp Blatter last week, and despite that meaning very little in terms of influencing the vote, John Delaney will be as happy as anyone to see Blatter step down from his position as president of FIFA.
Allegations of corruption have been floating around FIFA for years, but action had never been taken until last week when the FBI began arresting members of FIFA in Zurich last week, and now a reform is on the horizon. Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, John Delaney suggested who he wants to see in charge going forward:
We'll have to see who the runners and riders are, Prince Ali has said that he will throw his name into the hat, Michel Platini is an obvious candidate and he didn't run last time but I think he would garner a lot of support inside UEFA, and outside UEFA, because he's Michel Platini the great footballer. But what we will watch closely is who the Asians and Africans put forward, and a little bit of me wonders has Blatter done a deal to bring his own person forward, so over the next weeks we'll see who's going forward. I would like to see Platini do it, but that doesn't mean he will run for it.
Will Michel Platini really be that much different to Blatter? This is a man who voted for the Qatar World Cup, and who has not been the most popular figure during his tenure of UEFA, so would there be any change at all?
French journalist Philippe Auclair also spoke to Newstalk last night and raised the very valid point that UEFA have "no lessons to teach anyone in the World of football", and when you consider Platini's working relationship with Blatter seemed to be perfectly amicable until very recently, maybe he wouldn't be the smartest choice for FIFA president at this time.
As Delaney says himself, we'll have to wait and see.
via Newstalk.com
