It's Getting Worse

Sepp Blatter has insisted that Fifa is not in crisis, despite the "great damage" done to its image by ongoing corruption allegations, saying it is "not in crisis, it only has some difficulties".  He brushed off suggestions, from the British government among others, that Wednesday's presidential election- for which he is the only candidate, should be suspended.  He guffed:

If governments try to intervene then something is wrong.  I think Fifa is strong enough that we can deal with our problems inside Fifa."

Oh, there is indeed something wrong all right, it's called Blatter.  The man is delusional.

Analysis from the BBC:

"This was an absolutely extraordinary appearance by Sepp Blatter. Delusional, one colleague said to me afterwards.
"The phrase that will stick in the mind is: 'Crisis? What crisis?' - reminiscent of that famous newspaper headline during the Winter of Discontent.
"But Blatter is not playing to our audience, he's playing to the members of Fifa who he hopes will re-elect him.
"He wouldn't deal with Mohamed Bin Hammam's suspension, wouldn't talk about Jack Warner and his claims and wouldn't talk about reopening the World Cup 2022 vote.
"After this conference there are so many questions. This is not going away for Blatter."

FIFA ROW IN FIGURES

• 35 - Number of nations controlled by Concacaf, from whose presidency Jack Warner has been suspended
• 75 - Age of Sepp Blatter, current Fifa president and only candidate for election to the post on Wednesday
• 107 - Years Fifa has been in existence. It celebrated its birthday on 21 May. Blatter has worked at Fifa for 36 years and held the presidency since 1998
• 208 - Number of nations represented in the Fifa congress, which will vote to elect a new president on Wednesday
• 40,000 - Amount, in dollars, Caribbean Football Union (CFU) leaders are alleged to have been offered to back Mohamed bin Hammam's presidential bid
• 360,000 - Cost, in dollars, borne by Bin Hammam to provide travel and accommodation to 25 CFU members, as detailed in Bin Hammam's submission to Fifa's ethics committee
• 1,000,000 - Cash gift, in dollars, Warner claims Blatter gave to Concacaf "to spend as it sees fit"
• 2,500,000 - Amount, in pounds, Lord Triesman claimed Warner wanted from England's 2018 bid team for an educational project in Trinidad and Tobago. An inquiry has since cleared Warner
• 29,600,000 - Outlay, in pounds, from Australia on its unsuccessful bid to host the 2022 World Cup. Australian senator Nick Xenophon has demanded Fifa refund it in full