By Andrew Warshaw
October 2 – While the English FA are standing by their man for the time being, the Germans are not so sure whether Michel Platini is still the right man for the job of taking over from Sepp Blatter.
German football league boss Reinhard Rauball says Platini has more explaining to do over the SFr2 million payment he received from Blatter and which has thrown him into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
The UEFA president has until recently been the favourite to succeed Blatter but received what the Swiss authorities describe as a “disloyal payment” made by Blatter to the Frenchman in 2011 for work carried out nine years earlier when he was Blatter’s special adviser.
Platini, who unlike Blatter has not been placed under investigation, insists the money was totally above board and on Monday outlined his position in a letter to UEFA’s 54 member associations.
But Rauball, head of the DFL which runs the two top leagues in Germany, said: “Michel Platini must provide credible explanations to the public and football fans of what exactly has happened.”
“In his letter … (Platini) wrote a sentence I did not like at all: That he does not want to comment further as it is an ongoing investigation,” Rauball told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
“As a private person in a private surrounding he can certainly do that if he feels he needs to protect himself”.
But Rauball added that he expected “different standards” from a FIFA presidential candidate.
Platini is still determined to stand and says the delay in receiving the payment was because of FIFA’s financial position at the time. But Rauball, who is also vice-president of the German FA (DFB), added: “What Platini has let us know so far is just not enough.”
While the Germans have expressed discomfort over Platini’s position, the English FA has come under political fire for its unconditional support.
Conservative MP Damian Collins, who also leads the NewFifaNow pressure group, told the Daily Telegraph: “I want Greg Dyke to give evidence and explain why the FA have been backing Platini.
“If they’re doing this because they’re trying to curry support from within UEFA for other things they want in the future then that’s not way football should be run.
“It’s that sort of culture that has created some of the problems that FIFA has now.”
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