Alex Horne was stunned by the fury vented towards the FA after Fifa's presidential election.
Anger towards England surprises general secretary
General secretary Alex Horne has admitted he was stunned by the fury vented towards the Football Association after their unsuccessful attempt to postpone Fifa's presidential election.
Argentina's Fifa member Julio Grondona and Spain's Angel Villar Llona berated the FA and the British media, and Horne was taken aback by the level of criticism.
"I was a bit surprised, but once a couple of people had got up and said it they poured more vitriol on to us," he said.
"I was certainly surprised that Grondona and Villar Llona went on, rambling about politicians and journalists."
Pressure
Sepp Blatter was the only contender and although he was awarded a fourth term as Fifa president, Horne insisted the FA's action had helped pressure Blatter to announce reforms.
He added: "I think he's been pressured to go as far as he has over the ethics commission and the solutions committee partly because of what we have done."
After his re-election, Blatter said he had been surprised by the FA, but that there were no hard feelings.
"This was a surprising start to the congress," he said. "The No.1 national association in Fifa - the FA founded the game in 1863 - have the right to be called the FA, Football Association. They should be an example, so that was a surprise.
"I had heard about it, and Uefa made a special meeting trying to convince them. I thought this problem would be solved so was surprised when they tried to change the agenda of the congress and not make elections.
"I'm the president of all the associations and will work with all of them. There's no bad feeling with any of the associations that didn't vote for me.
"I'm the president of Fifa, and with 186 votes I'm proud. Don't worry about the English."
