Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Liam Brady blasts Sepp Blatter
Ireland assistant manager Liam Brady has blasted FIFA president Sepp Blatter for revealing the supposedly confidential details of a meeting with the FAI.
Speaking at a conference in South Africa, Blatter stated that the Irish had enquired at the meeting as to the possibility of being invited to next summer's World Cup as a '33rd nation' after their controversial play-off exit at the hands of France.
Blatter was seen to join in with the laughter that this news created at the meeting, and Brady is disgusted with the FIFA president.
"I was told that the FAI went to a supposedly private meeting with Mr Blatter and officials from FIFA a couple of evenings ago," he told Sky Sports News.
"I don't think they believed that Mr Blatter was going to reveal what was said at the meeting. I believe that they agreed it would be confidential.
"But I'm afraid Mr Blatter is a bit of a law unto himself.
"I thought he was very disrespectful how he presented this fact the other day at a business conference in South Africa.
"He totally ignored most of the controversial things that went on that evening. He never had anything to say about those at all. Like Henry's behaviour after scoring that goal and how that stands within his campaign to have fair play within the game.
"You see the goal and Henry celebrates as if he's done nothing wrong.
"Is that fair play? Hardly. But Mr Blatter chose to talk about our request to be considered as the 33rd team.
"I think when we asked for that we knew there was very little chance of that happening. We asked because we wanted to have them respond in a measured way and see what they had to say.
"After all Mr Blatter is responsible for the officials. He didn't say anything about the appalling mistake the official made to miss such a blatant handball.
"He didn't even have the grace to acknowledge the behaviour of the Irish players after the game. Not one player got booked after that incident, not one player got booked after the match.
"There were 20,000 Irish fans in the stadium. Not one fan caused trouble in the stadium in Paris that night, or in the city that night.
"Now I think my country deserves a little more recognition from Blatter than the way he presented it to the press conference in South Africa yesterday.
"I think the man is a bit of a loose cannon and embarrassment to FIFA."
Brady was also disgusted with the way in which Blatter had seemed to treat the matter as a joke in South Africa, and his revelations had been greeted with laughter by some of the audience.
"The way he presented it was bound to be," Brady added.
"He was presenting it to business people, and he's very close to business people. I think people will be watching Mr Blatter and his decisions very closely from now on.
"And of course England will have a lot to do with him, because they're trying to get the World Cup in 2018 and Mr Blatter will have a big say in that."
Brady also hinted at a broader conspiracy in favour of the bigger European sides.
"I've been a player and gone to Paris a couple of times and been on the wrong end of decisions," he said.
"I think when it comes to the big teams and big business in football you'll find that they usually get the decisions.
"Forget about that. We can accept that. What we can't accept is how he's presented the case to the media in South Africa yesterday.
"He needs to show some respect."
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