Why Platini has turned out to be not quite so unique – Inside World Football

Michel Platini has always presented himself as unique. That he was a unique footballer cannot be doubted although the fact that he could not guide his country to a World Cup win means for all his great achievements as player he will always remain to an extent the nearly man, not quite in the class of Franz Beckenbauer. But it is his role as administrator in the last decade that raises questions about why and how he was ever considered a football administrator in any way different to the less than reputable bunch who have governed the world game for so long.



This reputation has been based on the fact that he is a rare footballing great willing to become an administrator. A man from the world of shorts willing to wear suits. It has also helped that he is seen as one keen to bring some romance back to a game increasingly driven by money and more open and transparent than nearly all the other administrators. Platini himself has played on this as, for instance, in becoming the only member of the FIFA executive to disclose how he voted on the controversial 2010 ballot that decided that Qatar should host the 2022 World Cup. Even the fact that he went on to say that while he voted for Qatar he privately told them that the World Cup should be held in the winter not the summer did not quite diminish the aura of a man who was different to the others.



Yet the recent revelations and, in particular, the payment of £1.35 million by Sepp Blatter for work he had done for FIFA, and the way the payment has emerged indicate that Platini is actually no different. The gloss is different, the substance is not. And looking back at his Presidency it is clear he does not really stand out from the rest of the crowd.