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| | Wednesday, 29 May, 2002, 12:20 GMT 13:20 UK Blatter's pledge in tatters Zen-Ruffinen (right) will remain in Blatter's background Sepp Blatter's pledge to unify Fifa looked in tatters in the wake of his resounding re-election as Fifa's president. Uefa president Lennart Johansson offered to resign from his post, while Blatter launched an attack on his biggest critic, Fifa general-secretary Michael Zen-Ruffinen Johannson is one of five Fifa vice-presidents who started legal procedings against Blatter's handling of financial affairs.
After firmly backing Blatter's rival Issa Hayatou, Johannson confirmed he would meet Uefa heads. Johansson said: "I have to ask them if they still want me, to know if the situation is still the same as when they elected me. "I am prepared to step down," said Johansson. Buoyed by a resounding majority which gave him the confidence to declare he had been too nice in the past, Blatter immediately launched an offensive against Fifa general-secretary Michael Zen-Ruffinen. Zen-Ruffinen refused to quit but Blatter's sternest pre-election critic may find his position untenable. Blatter confirmed Zen-Ruffinen's fears that his post would be in jeopardy. Blatter told journalists: "He's in trouble, he said to one of your colleagues - and he is in trouble!
"I have to work on this unity but it depends on the behaviour and the fair play of those who in past times were not very gentile with me." Blatter claimed a vicious election campaign was fought entirely in the light of the allegations of corruption and financial mis-management levelled against him. He said: "I had no time to campaign, I only had time to defend myself and the office of president. "It was not my bitter campaign, it was self-defence. "So if you ask me what I will do better in the next four years I would say that I am too confident and that I shall be more prudent in the choice of people who have to work directly with me." Zen-Ruffinen dismissed Blatter's post-victory call for unity and predicted more strife over the state of Fifa's finances.
He said: "He's going to find it very difficult to re-unify this divided family." "Nobody can agree on the figures so the dispute is going to continue." But the margin of Blatter's victory convinced many of his pre-election critics to call for peace. Scottish Fifa vice-president David Will heads the finance committee which is probing Fifa's books and claimed Blatter had been given a firm mandate. "It's a stunning victory and the result was amazingly clear. "The congress has spoken and now we have to work together. It won't be easy, but I hope we can." That view was echoed by South Korea's Chung Mong-Joon, who said: "We have to bring Fifa together. "This result was no accident and we have to accept it and move forward." | |
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