This travesty of a FIFA presidential election recalls the days of Comical Ali, the Iraqi information minister who declared impending victory over America while the rumble of American tanks shook the room in which he promised death to the invader.
All will be well when there is a new leader of Sepp Blatter’s failed state, next week’s poll suggests, even though major criminal investigations are in full flow. The English Football Association board met last week to decide which of the five candidates to endorse. Two are senior members of political regimes – Bahrain and Jordan – where democracy, transparency and accountability are not noticeably constitutional bedrocks.