Platini UEFA Presedent (Good For Irish Clubs)

**joe_barry80** · 26/01/2007, 1:14 PM

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2007/0126/platinim.html Looks like he wants to get all the smaller countries more involved in Europe. Good sign for our Clubs?

**Mr A** · 26/01/2007, 1:34 PM

Encouraging that a victory seems to have been scored for the small nations. Platini's proposals aren't revolutionary but are certainly a step in the right direction.

**dcfcsteve** · 26/01/2007, 2:08 PM

What's a 'Presedent', and how will it help Irish football....?

**dcfcsteve** · 26/01/2007, 2:12 PM

A good result for football in my opinion, and certainly unexpected.

However - it concerns me that Blatter was backing him so openly. Sepp Blatter has anything but the good of football at mind, and I'd be worried at what Platini may have had to offer him in return for that support.

Interesting to see 2 of the 52 UEFA nations didn't vote ! Those 2 plus one switching voter would've been enough alone to lead to a tie.

**centre mid** · 26/01/2007, 2:17 PM

Platini has stated before that England should have only 3 Champions League spots

**Rossi** · 26/01/2007, 2:25 PM

i does he want a knockout only champions league aswell? no seeding just a straight draw?Heard that somewhere

**Redie** · 26/01/2007, 2:38 PM

After the 1990 World Cup a think tank was set up to make proposals to improve Soccer as a spectator sport. Platini was part of it and his big idea was to - Ban Tackling!!!!!

**Tazskool** · 26/01/2007, 2:42 PM

It will help smaller countries if they give the extra spots creted to them..

Even if they get knocked out in the first 1 or 2 matches the extra money from tv, fans and sponsorship will do whatever small league team a world of good..

Also will help that league as a whole in the process of boosting the country involved across Europe and in a grass roots level in the local area by showing the community that the people who play football for their team can go on to do big things. It will give kids who want to play and currently play for youth teams more passion to achieve!

the big clubs do not really need the cash and can afford to make cutback..

**centre mid** · 26/01/2007, 2:44 PM

there was times last year when i thought Devo had banned tackling aswell

**gustavo** · 26/01/2007, 2:44 PM

Originally Posted by centre mid

Platini has stated before that England should have only 3 Champions League spots

Ehmm I doubt he that , He probably said that the most any country should have is three representatives being that also Spain and Italy have 4 at the moment.

**centre mid** · 26/01/2007, 2:47 PM

Originally Posted by gustavo

Ehmm I doubt he that , He probably said that the most any country should have is three representatives being that also Spain and Italy have 4 at the moment.

I'm only paraphrasing Sky sports this morning, however you could be correct and Sky just put an English slant to the quote

**Poor Student** · 26/01/2007, 4:00 PM

I reckon we're so far down the ladder of rankings that any changes he might make won't really impact us. Some of his past quotes suggested that he would like to make some radical changes but he seems to have tempered these ideas as he has gotten closer to the election. Any move would have to be groundbreaking to have any real benefit to Irish clubs.

**Paraic** · 26/01/2007, 4:57 PM

The vote was a close call inthe end, but I'm not hugely surprised. Platini's been on the campaign trail for a long time and is great for soundbites and photo ops - just look at the coverage he got here last year.

He also has the benefit of Blatter as an archangel which does make a difference in european circles. On the face of it, he would seem to be Blatter's man - Platini may be a household name, but his rise in UEFA has been relatively meteoric. It suits Blatter to have someone he can turn to. Johannsen was his own man, it just remains to be seen whether Platini will be too.

I hope so.

**Kerry Blue** · 26/01/2007, 5:19 PM

I think we'll have to wait and see how things go with Platini. We all know that when it comes to elections there are many proposals and promises but how many are ever emplimented. There are a lot more smaller national leagues in UEFA than there are big ones so promising to give them more of a chance in UEFA competitions was an obvious vote getter. It was a ploy used by Joao Havelange when he went to be elected president of FIFA. He campaigned heavily in Africa and Asia (both with a large number of members) promising to increase the number of places available to them at the World Cup. They increased slightly but this was mostly due to their performances on the football field than anything Havelange did.

**CharlesThompson** · 26/01/2007, 9:11 PM

I wouldn't hold my breath too much regarding any changes to the Uefa competitions aligned with the clubs from our country. The G14 is a powerful group of clubs which has already threatened Uefa with withdrawing from the Champions League and setting up their own European Super League if they don't get their own way. With the bulk of clubs from the G14 from England, Spain and Italy (Germany / France too) their ommission from the Champions League will kill the competition.

**Terry** · 26/01/2007, 10:06 PM

all the countries with 4 teams will be cut back to 3. He also thinks that each league should have a maximum of 16 teams, meaing big cut backs in the big league countries too.

**RonnieB** · 26/01/2007, 10:39 PM

Blatter is a corrupt old fool.

**pete** · 26/01/2007, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by RonnieB

Blatter is a corrupt old fool.

Groumed & educated by his master Havelange

Uefa are just like any political organisation so I wouldn't not welcome Platini just because hes a "football person" as some of the pundits will claim...

I don't think taking a few places off the top countries would make much if any difference to the eL. Now if they ensured only winners of top leagues qualify automatically that might be a valuable change...

**Neish** · 26/01/2007, 11:29 PM

Sounds great but I wouldn't get two excited the ig clubs form England Italy & Spain will fight this all the way

**A face** · 27/01/2007, 2:02 AM

Originally Posted by pete

Groumed & educated by his master Havelange

Uefa are just like any political organisation so I wouldn't not welcome Platini just because hes a "football person" as some of the pundits will claim...

I don't think taking a few places off the top countries would make much if any difference to the eL. Now if they ensured only winners of top leagues qualify automatically that might be a valuable change...

But that what he has been suggesting for years though. Hes been at logger head with the G14 for a long while over it, with them saying they'll break away to make a super league.

He has never made this secret, while it might not have immediate impact on our league, it is good for football.