Fifa chief Blatter’s Domingo tactic is a wander into Alan Partridge territory
IN the hit TV show, as Alan Partridge becomes increasingly desperate, his pleas for a second series laughed off by smug TV executives, his suggestions for new programmes become more and more ludicrous.
“Arm-wrestling with Chas and Dave?” Partridge offers apologetically, inviting derision. “Youth hostelling with Chris Eubank?” he whimpers, before the piece de resistance: “Monkey Tennis?”
So pin-sharp an example of a man vainly groping for credibility was the scene from Steve Coogan’s comedy masterpiece that the suggestions have become by-words in media circles for absurd ideas.
Yet they are in danger of being eclipsed by the latest developments at football’s world governing body Fifa, whose embattled president Sepp Blatter has vowed to root out any wrongdoing amid allegations of corruption.
In order to restore faith in Fifa, Blatter says he intends to establish a quasi-independent so-called “council of wisdom”, to include former FBI chief Louis Freeh. So far, so reasonable – if some way short of the complete transparency Fifa’s critics demand.
Things took a turn for the stranger when Blatter announced Henry Kissinger would join the panel, only for the former US Secretary of State to say he hadn’t actually agreed to anything yet.
Raised eyebrows turned to outright smirks this week, however, when Blatter named his latest signing: Spanish-Mexican opera singer Placido Domingo.
Domingo, who as one of the Three Tenors recorded the soundtrack to the 1990 World Cup in Italy, is universally recognised as a distinguished and celebrated man in his field.
But his pedigree for investigating Fifa is unclear to say the least. His best-known association with football remains singing at a few tournaments, while he is hardly renowned for his crime-fighting abilities.
What made Partridge’s programme suggestions so comic were the farcical juxtapositions involved, and Blatter appears to be going the same way. For Youth Hostelling With Chris Eubank, read Cleaning Up Football with Placido Domingo.
Of course, none of Partridge’s ideas ever saw the light of day. The world waits to see whether Blatter’s own Monkey Tennis moment will ever be fully realised.