Platini Looks to Seize Transfer Role From Fifa
By Matt Scott (Buzzle.com).
Soccer: Digger: Uefa president Michel Platini wants to wrest control of international transfers between European clubs away from from Fifa.
Michel Platini will hold talks with Sepp Blatter early next year with a view to obtaining for Uefa the responsibility for regulating international transfers between European clubs.
Currently all international transfers fall into Fifa's lap, even those that cross the border between England and Scotland. But the ineffectiveness of the system has been highlighted by the fact that 13 of the 16 transfers exposed by the Quest report as being potentially irregular involved foreign clubs.
The Uefa president hopes to use his special relationship with his Fifa counterpart, for whom he worked as a special adviser, to discuss devolution of the global body's transfers remit. It would be a first foray into governance for Uefa and success will require all Platini's powers of diplomacy.
Although Fifa is willing to approve measures such as the Football Association's demand for foreign-registered agents to sign forms agreeing to respect English regulations before dealing with English clubs, it would be reluctant to allow Uefa to become involved with transfers.
Uefa is considered by Fifa as a mere competitions organizer but it feels the burden for regulation would be better shared, with Fifa having responsibility for intercontinental transactions and for internal domestic transfers to continue to be run by national associations.
For a number of years the Football Association has been lobbying Fifa to get more involved in monitoring transfers. The FA has found itself conducting most of the investigations into the wayward practices of foreign agents operating in England and forwarding its results to the global body.
But it has been encouraged by the progress made by the semi-independent working group for financial matters that is reviewing Fifa's transfer regulations with a view to tightening controls on the currently murky world of the transfer market.
Zurich's Zahavi silence
Fifa's difficulties in regulating international agents have been highlighted by the handling of Pini Zahavi's involvement in the tapping up of Ashley Cole. The Israeli agent, who has threatened legal action against the Premier League for being named in the Quest inquiry's summary final report, attended the meeting at the Royal Park Hotel in January 2006 that set the ball rolling on Cole's transfer to Chelsea. Fifa was issued with a dossier of evidence 12 months ago but deferred its considerations until after any appeal by Cole's agent, Jonathan Barnett, had been heard. He declined to appeal in December but the case has still not been heard in Zurich. Fifa pleads that its player-status committee always has several hundred cases pending and that it must procure statements of defence before considering charges. It hardly inspires faith in Fifa's handling of the Stevens findings if so simple a case takes so long to be examined.
Goldstein Sky high
Producers for Sky's flagship football-magazine show Soccer AM are on the brink of making an appointment as anchor and the smart money lies with Andy Goldstein. It is believed that United fan Goldstein's relationship with co-host Helen Chamberlain has swung it. The pair are so close that Chamberlain is preparing to be "best man" at Goldstein's wedding. There may not be a vacancy at the Friday-night All Sports Show the pair front together, though. Sky currently has no space in its schedules for that program.
Wembley price rise
Club Wembley customers have watched only two matches after paying their £10,000 licence fee: the England v Brazil game and the FA Cup final. There was disappointment, then, when they were hit with a 2% rise in their £2,800-plus season-ticket fees, trumpeted by the Wembley National Stadium marketing department as being "less than RPI", reflecting a "Club Wembley experience that has not been as smooth as we would have wished". But executive customers, who are essential to the venue's business plan, remain ruffled.
Parachute heads down
The parachute money that would have been due to Birmingham City and Sunderland had they not been promoted to the top flight last season will be shared among Championship clubs. Under current arrangements, when clubs bounce back the funds would be shared throughout the Premiership. The league executive proposed the initiative during its AGM three weeks ago. The mechanics of the distribution have not been fixed but a joint Premiership and Football League announcement is due soon on future youth development funding.
