FIFA Leaves Premiership 'Gobsmacked'!
Last updated : 09 March 2008 By Footy Mad - Editor
But there is a difference between the two - Mourinho (generally) knows what he is talking about ... Blatter wouldn't who what a football was if it hit him in the face!
The FIFA president, who last week said Birmingham City's Martin Taylor should be 'locked up' for the tackle which left Eduardo da Silva with a badly broken leg, has defended the decision to halt development of goalline technology by claiming the systems are too complicated, too expensive and not foolproof.
The Premier League's hopes of introducing the technology for the 2009/10 season have been blocked.
Instead, the International FA Board (IFAB) meeting in Gleneagles decided to push ahead with experiments with two extra assistant referees standing behind each goal-line.
Blatter: "It is not a change of heart. We have identified very clearly how complicated both systems are and that for the time being they are not accurate.
"After three years of tests, we have had no conclusive results - so we have decided to stop it and put it on ice."
The 'Hawkeye' system uses 12 cameras linked to a computer that combines the images, but Blatter said there were problems with that too.
Blatter: "You cannot ensure it works when there are a bunch of players inside the goalmouth and you cannot see the ball, or when there is poor visibility.
"FIFA are of the opinion that the systems are very costly, would not add anything to the game and would harm the position of the referee."
Paul Hawkins, managing director of 'Hawkeye', said: "I am gobsmacked, and it's completely out of the blue. A year ago they seemed to want it - we have invested an awful lot of money and now we have no return on that. I am livid."
More trouble for Blatter, Birmingham City chairman David Gold has hit out at him after the FIFA president attacked Martin Taylor for the tackle which left Eduardo da Silva with a badly broken leg.
Arsenal striker Eduardo could be sidelined for up to 15 months after a challenge by Taylor in a Premier League encounter at St Andrew's two weeks ago.
The Croatia international has already cleared Taylor of any malice in the challenge, but Blatter has angered Gold by claiming players should face lengthy bans for such offences.
Blatter: "It's shocking when you see how this player was attacked, it's not football.
"You have to have respect and what we witnessed there has nothing to do with football. This is to destroy another player and that is not the aim of our game.
"Such players should not only be suspended for a certain time, they should be banned until they have realised they have done something absolutely wrong."
Gold: "Martin is being made to look like public enemy number one.
"Things like this being said by Sepp Blatter are inappropriate and do not help the situation.
"Martin Taylor will carry the burden of this accident on his shoulders for the rest of his life. That is the sort of person he is.
"It is outrageous and disappointing that a man of Sepp Blatter's standing, the top man in world football, is coming out with inflammatory statements like this which cannot be good for the game."