SFA joins call to postpone FIFA election

SFA chief executive Stewart Regan has called for a postponement to Wednesday's presidential election in order to address the "chaos" within the world's governing body.

The SFA took their stance following a similar plea by Football Association chairman David Bernstein earlier in the day.

His appeal for an independent body to supervise reforms at FIFA following the recent damning revelations and accusations were echoed by Regan who wants to "put to bed once and for all any concerns about corruption within the organisation".

Senior FIFA members Jack Warner and Mohamed Bin Hammam were suspended by FIFA's ethics committee pending a full inquiry into bribery charges with the latter withdrawing from the election, leaving current president Sepp Blatter unopposed.

In an extraordinary press conference in Zurich on Monday, which came after FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke had confirmed that he sent an email suggesting the 2022 World Cup was "bought" - but insisted he was referring to Qatar using their "financial strength" to legitimately lobby for votes - Blatter said: "Crisis? What is a crisis? Football is not in a crisis."

However, Regan, like his colleagues at the FA, was at odds with that assessment.

"Given the chaos that seems to be present we think the election should be postponed," Regan told Sky Sports.

"We watched the press conference yesterday [Monday] unfold and we felt that Sepp Blatter had been cleared from any personal involvement in any of these allegations but two of the executive committee members have been suspended.

"Now to actually go through an election while that investigation is ongoing isn't the right thing to do.

"The organisation needs to have a very clear plan, showing what governance changes will be put in place in the coming years and also to have an independent ethics committee to review and either find the individuals guilty or not guilty, and the members then can have confidence to move on.

"We would like the ethics committee to be appointed as a totally independent body to put to bed once and for all any concerns about corruption within the organisation."

Regan continued: "We have only just arrived at the SFA position, we will be discussing the matter with other member associations over the course of the next 24 hours.

"I think it is a matter for debate, but three to six months would be a realistic period of time for any independent ethics committee to get together to review all of the facts and to come up with recommendations based on transparency and accountable processes and procedures being put in place.

"Doing nothing is not a viable option.

"If we do nothing then we can see the election going ahead tomorrow [Wednesday] and Sepp Blatter being appointed for a period of four years.

"We think in order to gain some kind of momentum there needs to be affirmative action.

"The FA have come out and said they believe the election should be postponed, we are also of the same mind."

Although it would take the agreement of 75% of the 208 national associations that make up FIFA to stop the election taking place, the pressure intensified on Blatter as key sponsors Emirates, Coca-Cola and adidas expressed concerns at the continuing controversy surrounding the world's governing body.

Regan, though, refrained from calling for Blatter to resign.

"I don't think it is a matter of resignation for Sepp Blatter at this stage," he said.

"I think you have to separate the wrongdoing that has clearly gone on within the organisation and the allegations that have been made from the process of transparency and accountability and good governance.

"What we need at the moment is to have an election where the members can feel confident and in order for that to happen we have to, in our opinion, postpone that election to give times for that process to be undertaken."

The SFA made its stance clear at lunchtime with a statement that read: "The Scottish FA can today [Tuesday] confirm its position that the FIFA presidential election be postponed in light of recent uncertainty.

"We believe the election should be rescheduled to facilitate a period of consultation to deal with the issues that have arisen in recent weeks.

"The events of the last two days, in particular, have made any election unworkable.

"The integrity and reputation of the game across the world is paramount and the Scottish FA urges FIFA to reconsider its intentions, and calls on other member associations to consider the long-term implications for the game's image.

"We also propose the following actions: FIFA should appoint a wholly independent ethics committee; a significant comprehensive plan should be formulated and presented by FIFA to its members regarding essential changes to its governance, decision-making processes and transparency; a new date is set for the presidential election, giving suitable candidates time to prepare and present their plans for a more transparent and accountable FIFA."