Lenny Boyle
Michel Platini has had another one of his brain waves
23/09/2011
Michel Platini has had another one of his brain waves. The former French footballing icon and current head honcho of UEFA is proposing that Euro 2020 be hosted by 12 or 13 different cities. In different countries.
While this is certainly a novel idea quotes emanating from Platini’s press conference seem to suggest the Frenchman had just come up with the proposal over a few late night Ukrainian vodkas. A suggestion he seemed to back up when he extolled the virtues of the host nations vodka in the same press conference.
12 or 13 cities became 24 or 32 in later comments at the the same conference. Suggesting Platini has a firm grasp of the details of the proposal.
Platini’s flight of fancy was spurred by Turkey’s desire to host both the Euros in 2020 and the Olympic games. A major sporting overlap that would put strains on both tournaments, not to mention the transportation system and infrastructure of Turkey.
Turkey were the preferred option but any Olympic overlap seems to have put paid to their favourite status to host in 2020.
Whether scribbled on the back of a cigarette packet or not the idea does raise some interesting questions.
What happens to the unique cultural background of every tournament? Ukraine and their Polish partners have proven able hosts despite widespread fears of racism and hooliganism going into the tournament. Though perhaps more stories will emerge on that front when the tournament concludes.
With games in London, Paris, Berlin etc the tournament becomes a kind of international Champions League instead of a European version of the World Cup. The Champions League is of course UEFA’s prime cash generating brand. Perhaps a tournament - with, remember, 24 teams the taking part in 2016 and beyond instead of 16 - more in line with the Champions League is Platini’s true goal.
So Platini is all for new ideas. But one new idea, whose time has surely come, that of goal-line technology, is steadfastly resisted by UEFA’s chief.
MIchel Platini seems to be trying to fix something that isn’t broken, instead of something that is.
<meta name="Generator" content="Cocoa HTML Writer" /><meta name="CocoaVersion" content="1138.47" /><style type="text/css">p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}span.s1 {letter-spacing: 0.0px}</style><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Michel Platini has had another one of his brain waves. The former French footballing icon and current head honcho of UEFA is proposing that Euro 2020 be hosted by 12 or 13 different cities. In different countries. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">While this is certainly a novel idea quotes emanating from Platini’s press conference seem to suggest the Frenchman had just come up with the proposal over a few late night Ukrainian vodkas. A suggestion he seemed to back up when he extolled the virtues of the host nations vodka in the same press conference. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">12 or 13 cities became 24 or 32 in later comments at the the same conference. Suggesting Platini has a firm grasp of the details of the proposal.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Platini’s flight of fancy was spurred by Turkey’s desire to host both the Euros in 2020 and the Olympic games. A major sporting overlap that would put strains on both tournaments, not to mention the transportation system and infrastructure of Turkey. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Turkey were the preferred option but any Olympic overlap seems to have put paid to their favourite status to host in 2020.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Whether scribbled on the back of a cigarette packet or not the idea does raise some interesting questions. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">What happens to the unique cultural background of every tournament? Ukraine and their Polish partners have proven able hosts despite widespread fears of racism and hooliganism going into the tournament. Though perhaps more stories will emerge on that front when the tournament concludes.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">With games in London, Paris, Berlin etc the tournament becomes a kind of international Champions League instead of a European version of the World Cup. The Champions League is of course UEFA’s prime cash generating brand. Perhaps a tournament - with, remember, 24 teams the taking part in 2016 and beyond instead of 16 - more in line with the Champions League is Platini’s true goal.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">So Platini is all for new ideas. But one new idea, whose time has surely come, that of goal-line technology, is steadfastly resisted by UEFA’s chief.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">MIchel Platini seems to be trying to fix something that isn’t broken, instead of something that is.</span></p><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /><title><meta name="Generator" content="Cocoa HTML Writer" /><meta name="CocoaVersion" content="1138.47" /><style type="text/css">p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}span.s1 {letter-spacing: 0.0px}</style><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Michel Platini has had another one of his brain waves. The former French footballing icon and current head honcho of UEFA is proposing that Euro 2020 be hosted by 12 or 13 different cities. In different countries. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">While this is certainly a novel idea quotes emanating from Platini’s press conference seem to suggest the Frenchman had just come up with the proposal over a few late night Ukrainian vodkas. A suggestion he seemed to back up when he extolled the virtues of the host nations vodka in the same press conference. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">12 or 13 cities became 24 or 32 in later comments at the the same conference. Suggesting Platini has a firm grasp of the details of the proposal.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Platini’s flight of fancy was spurred by Turkey’s desire to host both the Euros in 2020 and the Olympic games. A major sporting overlap that would put strains on both tournaments, not to mention the transportation system and infrastructure of Turkey. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Turkey were the preferred option but any Olympic overlap seems to have put paid to their favourite status to host in 2020.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Whether scribbled on the back of a cigarette packet or not the idea does raise some interesting questions. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">What happens to the unique cultural background of every tournament? Ukraine and their Polish partners have proven able hosts despite widespread fears of racism and hooliganism going into the tournament. Though perhaps more stories will emerge on that front when the tournament concludes.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">With games in London, Paris, Berlin etc the tournament becomes a kind of international Champions League instead of a European version of the World Cup. The Champions League is of course UEFA’s prime cash generating brand. Perhaps a tournament - with, remember, 24 teams the taking part in 2016 and beyond instead of 16 - more in line with the Champions League is Platini’s true goal.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">So Platini is all for new ideas. But one new idea, whose time has surely come, that of goal-line technology, is steadfastly resisted by UEFA’s chief.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">MIchel Platini seems to be trying to fix something that isn’t broken, instead of something that is.</span></p><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /><title><meta name="Generator" content="Cocoa HTML Writer" /><meta name="CocoaVersion" content="1138.47" /><style type="text/css">p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}span.s1 {letter-spacing: 0.0px}</style><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Michel Platini has had another one of his brain waves. The former French footballing icon and current head honcho of UEFA is proposing that Euro 2020 be hosted by 12 or 13 different cities. In different countries. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">While this is certainly a novel idea quotes emanating from Platini’s press conference seem to suggest the Frenchman had just come up with the proposal over a few late night Ukrainian vodkas. A suggestion he seemed to back up when he extolled the virtues of the host nations vodka in the same press conference. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">12 or 13 cities became 24 or 32 in later comments at the the same conference. Suggesting Platini has a firm grasp of the details of the proposal.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Platini’s flight of fancy was spurred by Turkey’s desire to host both the Euros in 2020 and the Olympic games. A major sporting overlap that would put strains on both tournaments, not to mention the transportation system and infrastructure of Turkey. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Turkey were the preferred option but any Olympic overlap seems to have put paid to their favourite status to host in 2020.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Whether scribbled on the back of a cigarette packet or not the idea does raise some interesting questions. </span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">What happens to the unique cultural background of every tournament? Ukraine and their Polish partners have proven able hosts despite widespread fears of racism and hooliganism going into the tournament. Though perhaps more stories will emerge on that front when the tournament concludes.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">With games in London, Paris, Berlin etc the tournament becomes a kind of international Champions League instead of a European version of the World Cup. The Champions League is of course UEFA’s prime cash generating brand. Perhaps a tournament - with, remember, 24 teams the taking part in 2016 and beyond instead of 16 - more in line with the Champions League is Platini’s true goal.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">So Platini is all for new ideas. But one new idea, whose time has surely come, that of goal-line technology, is steadfastly resisted by UEFA’s chief.</span></p><p class="p2"><br /></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">MIchel Platini seems to be trying to fix something that isn’t broken, instead of something that is.</span></p>
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