Reds saga - a warning to others
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Blatter sees warning in Liverpool saga
The takeover saga embroiling Liverpool should stand as a warning to clubs to be careful who they sell out to, according to FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Liverpool were bought just over a year ago by American businessmen Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
But now Gillett is close to selling out his stake to Dubai Investment Capital, while Hicks has been targeted by protesting fans who want him out of the club.
Asked whether Liverpool's situation should be a warning to other clubs, Blatter said: 'Yes definitely. You get investors, because a club is a good investment - and they come and if the results are not as such as they have expected they go away.
'This is definitely a risk in all the clubs. But as long as they have so many investors and specifically in the English Premier League, it is a fashion to buy a football club.
'At a certain time they wanted to have a Formula One team or they had a personal golf course or they had horses - and now it is football.
'That's good for football, but the community of football should pay attention to such a situation.'
Blatter can understand Liverpool fans mounting protests.
'I like it. They did the same at Old Trafford two years ago, but they are still going to the stadium to watch the matches,' he said.
'We have to take care first of the game, but it can only be done with the understanding of everybody.
'Concerning the big clubs and the money, this is a problem which has nothing to do with sport; this is economic mechanism and activities, where we have very little to say.'
Blatter, speaking in Gleneagles following a meeting of the International FA Board (IFAB), also spelled out his intention to continue to oppose the Premier League's plan for overseas matches.
The proposal is being reviewed after widespread opposition. But Blatter will still bring the issue to the attention of FIFA's executive committee on Friday.
'I don't know if it is dead but I will definitely bring it to the executive committee and the congress,' he said.
'The Premier League are the best-organised league with the most money coming in - but when you are so rich you should share with the other components of football and not try to get more.'
Blatter also defended the decision to halt development of goalline technology by claiming the systems are too complicated, too expensive and not foolproof.
The IFAB, football's rule-making body, ended the Premier League's hopes of introducing the technology for the 2009/10 season by freezing any further trials on separate systems being developed by `Hawkeye' and adidas/Cairos Technologies.
Instead, the IFAB decided to push ahead with experiments with two extra assistant referees standing behind each goalline.
Blatter said: '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.'
FA chief executive Brian Barwick believes that effectively ends any hopes of goal-line technology.
He said: 'I think goalline technology is now dead in the water, and that is a disappointment to the FA - although we absolutely respect the democracy of the International FA Board.'
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.'
Meanwhile, Blatter revealed there is a very real possibility of some matches at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa being played on artificial pitches.
If the pitches at next year's Confederations Cup are deemed below standard, then artificial turf will be installed in those stadiums that do not come up to scratch.
Blatter said: 'If there are any problems with the quality of the pitches then it's a possibility that the 2010 World Cup could be played on artificial turf.
'This is the truth. Artificial turf is the future.'
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