FA chairman Greg Dyke hits back at Sepp Blatter over England jibe
Saturday 11 July 2015 22:29, UK
FA chairman Greg Dyke has jumped to the defence of the English FA following last week's verbal blast by Sepp Blatter, accusing the FIFA president of being "in shock" as the fall-out from the corruption scandal rumbles on.
Blatter told a Swiss magazine on Friday that the English were envious of FIFA because "they no longer control football" and it was because of this that they direct "hatred" towards the governing body.
Speaking after an FA council meeting at St. George's Park on Saturday, Dyke laughed off Blatter's comments and stressed the importance of FIFA's next president not being "Blatter mark II".
Dyke told Sky Sports News HQ: "He’s always disliked me, he hates the British media and doesn’t like the English at all, which is fine because we don’t really like him.
"I do think he’s coming up with some rather strange things. He’s probably in a state of shock. This is a man that was triumphant – he thought he was going to run FIFA for four years, when actually he only ran it for four days.
"The only thing we can argue and complain about is that FIFA is an organisation that has been corrupted over 40 years. The single most important thing now is to talk about how we reform FIFA and not get Blatter mark II."
Blatter sensationally announced last month that he was stepping down as FIFA president after a number of members within the organisation were charged with corruption by US and Swiss officials
A full list of candidates who will stand to succeed Blatter at an emergency election is not yet known, but Dyke suggested the English FA could back UEFA president Michel Platini if he chose to run.
Dyke added: "Until we know who is going to stand then we don’t know who we’re going to support.
"But we’re very friendly with Mr Platini and supported him in the past. So we’ll see what he decides."
