The Sweeper: Brady Rips Into Blatter

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When I was 15 or 16, I interviewed Brighton & Hove Albion manager Liam Brady for a school magazine piece that never got published (the magazine never made it to print), and found him to be an amicable and thoughtful man oddly willing to listen patiently and answer a school kid’s long-winded questions about his time playing for Juventus and what he thought of Fever Pitch.

Brady eventually moved on to Arsenal’s youth development program and then to the Republic of Ireland as assistant manager, and he showed a side I wasn’t sure he had in him today having met the genial Irishman, ripping into Sepp Blatter in a manner few prominent national association figures have ever had the balls to do: “He’s a bit of a loose cannon,” Brady told Sky Sports News. “He’s an embarrassment to Fifa.”

Sure, we all know that. But some of Brady’s details — particularly his explanation about Ireland’s private query about adding a 33rd team to the World Cup, and their disgust at Blatter’s attempt to humiliate them by going public on it — ring true in terms of what we already know about Blatter’s disregard for the integrity of the game.

“I’m afraid Mr Blatter is a law unto himself,” Brady said. “I thought it was very disrespectful how he presented this fact. He’s currently ignored most of the controversial things that went on that evening. He never had anything to say about that at all, like Henry’s behaviour after scoring the goal and how that stands within his campaign to have fair play within the game. Henry celebrates as if he’s done nothing wrong. Is that fair play? Hardly. But Mr Blatter chose to talk about the request to be considered as the 33rd team. People will be watching Mr Blatter closely and his decisions closely from now on.”

Now, he just needs to get started on Blatter’s slimy right-hand man, Jerome Valcke.

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The Sweeper appears daily. For more rambling and links throughout the day every day, follow your editor Tom Dunmore @pitchinvasion on Twitter.

cowtown says:

December 1, 2009 at 11:04 am

“Now, he just needs to get started on Blatter’s slimy right-hand man, Jerome Valcke.”

Let’s also not forget Jack Warner.

Jason says:

December 1, 2009 at 1:01 pm

Nice post, Tom.

Agree that Blatter is pretty douchey. Don’t care for the critique of Henry’s celebration. He scored. Nothing was called. End of story. You ever see a baseball player _not_ celebrate scoring the winning run on a close play at the plate, even if he knew he was tagged? Should an offensive lineman in American football burst into tears if a critical hold goes uncalled and leads to a winning touchdown? Regardless of the sport, some calls are going to go your way and some aren’t. You play your heart out and you don’t whine when the calls go against you and you don’t apologize when the calls help you. It’s the joy and burden of big boy pants.

Darbs says:

December 1, 2009 at 4:12 pm

People are finally seeing through FIFA. Blatter also had the audacity to blame the referee rather than Henry!

Micah says:

December 1, 2009 at 6:06 pm

How would a 33rd team work in the World Cup? Has the Irish FA come up with a plan or were they asking and wanting FIFA to figure it out?

Julian says:

December 1, 2009 at 7:41 pm

I thought it was quite disrespectful how Blatter told the gathered media of Ireland’s 33rd team request, regardless of how ridiculous the request was, and especially if it was private. Instead of condemning the wrong, he hid behind antiquated FIFA rules (really, who cares if the rule is 140 years old? By that logic, we should be able to keep slaves and beat our wives), and made a mockery of the rightfully aggrieved team. He’s a joke and embarrassing. How FIFA members allow one man to be so powerful is beyond me.