New "Ideas" from Blatter

Just noticed this story of FIFA president looking to have club football play through out the summer: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6206888.stm hmmmmm...once again I scratch my head about the thinking behind this. What would he offer during the World Cup and European Cup seasons?

I think this idea is ridiculous and here is why:

• The World Cup and European Cup seasons would be complete chaos. For those seasons (remember Sep that is basically every other season) would have to stop for at least 6 weeks more likely 8 weeks. That would allow the national teams to recover their players, train, play the tournaments and then have some recovery time. This would completely throw the club schedules into chaos, wear on all players (what would you do with the other players who are not on national teams?), and make the season ripe for disaster.
• Play footie in the summer....hmmmmm....weren't there complaints of the sweltering heat during this past world cup? European clubs would suffer in the sweltering heat that can at times descend on Europe in the summer months.

I think if Sep and his "genius" wants to limit the stress on players, then force all leagues to take a mandatory 1 - 2 week break during the winter, maybe after Xmas until the new year. Cut back on ridiculous "cup" games, who really cares about the Carling Cup or the Ligue Cup (well maybe Middlesboro in the case of the former). These minor cups give clubs nothing more than an opportunity to play their bench and youth, while a good exercise not worth the strain it places on the greater club. I would also argue to cut down the Champions League and UEFA Cups, here I agree with the Platini proposal - limit the Champions League to 3 teams per nation (does the 4th place team really deserve to compete to become the "Champions of Europe?" I would argue that you really should only have the top 2 teams...but with all the money that horse is well gone from the barn).

Cut down on the number of nations for qualifying in Europe (something Blatter did endorse to his credit). Have a prequalifying tournament as they do for the club teams, that way Macedonia, Faroe Islands, etc need to pre qualify. This could cut down the number of groups, teams and games. While all nations should be invited to qualify, there needs to be tiers of qualification. Andorra or Luxembourg could still get to the Euro or World Cup, but make it so they are truly deserving to play with the large footballing nations. UEFA could even do a ranking of all the nations, those that fall below a certain level play in a prequalifying round tournament, but gives nations the ability, based on good results, to stay in the top pool or drop if their results do not allow them to maintain a high level.

This will cut back on the stain we are putting on players, not playing over the summer. I think Blatter is, once again, throwing "stuff" on the wall to see what sticks. Remember that floated the idea of having the World Cup every two years......Sep if you really want to do something good for the game think with your head and make the hard decisions, I am here if you want to chat.