By Chris Wright
David Ginola has announced his plans to run against Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency.
In a video message posted on his campaign website, Ginola – looking as sharp as ever – made the following declaration:
“We all know that the FIFA system isn’t working. I’m standing because, like you, I love football.
“The game needs to change, but I can’t change it on my own. I need you to stand up and change it with me. I need you in my team.
“By joining Team Ginola you are saying ‘yes’ to a FIFA built on democracy, transparency and equality.
“You are saying ‘yes’ to a FIFA which cares about one thing – football.”
However, before anybody starts getting carried away, it’s highly unlikely that Ginola’s bid will get He needs the support of five football associations and must show active involvement in football for two of the past five years to be eligible – something he is “working towards” according to his spokeswoman.
It should also be noted that Ginola’s campaign is basically a giant, out-sized PR stunt for banteriffic bookmakers Paddy Power, who are backing the Frenchman’s tilt at Blatter’s onyx pedestal.
This is a breakdown of how PP plan to spend your donation by funding their advertising campaign…
From the campaign website: if you donate to Ginola, a breakdown how it will be spent on global ad campaign for bookie pic.twitter.com/njiPYDCdR7
— sportingintelligence (@sportingintel) January 16, 2015
Yep.
Of course, in the interest of transparency, Ginola should really divulge how much he is being paid by PP to run for FIFA office shouldn’t he?
He is trying to change the way the organisation is run, after all.
So just to take stock, as things stand we’ve got bloke called Jerome Champagne, a bloke called Prince Ali and now this man…
…in the running to replace Blatter at the top of the FIFA pyramid.
Who said the FIFA presidential vote has become a joke?