By Andrew Warshaw
October 16 – UEFA’s unconvincing attempt to speak with one voice in favour of Michel Platini’s bid for the FIFA presidency has been blown to bits by the English Football Association announcing it has put its support for the Frenchman on hold because of the unexplained payment that led to him being suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee.
The FA took its decision within just 24 hours of an emergency UEFA meeting, fuelling rumours of a split within the UEFA membership over their own president’s suitability to take over from Sepp Blatter on February 26.
In a statement the FA said it “fully supported” the need to give Platini a fair trial and the chances to clear his name “and has no interest in taking any action that jeopardises this process”.
“However, notwithstanding the above, at the UEFA meeting on Thursday, the FA learnt more information relating to the issues at the centre of this case from Mr Platini’s lawyers. We have been instructed that the information must be kept confidential and therefore we cannot go into specifics.
“As a result of learning this information, the FA board has concluded that it must suspend its support for Mr Platini’s candidature for the FIFA Presidency until the legal process has been concluded and the position is clear. A decision can then be taken on who to support in the presidential election on 26 February 2016.”
Other federations seem likely to follow suit after being unconvinced with the explanation they received from Platini;s lawyer into the infamous SFr2 million payment made in 2011 from FIFA and authorised by Blatter. Both are appealing their respective suspensions but Platini has apparently still been unable to offer FIFA investigators a plausible reason for the nine-year delay in remuneration for work carried out between 1999 and 2002.
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