Sepp Blatter’s abrupt departure a day after he was elected was not an altruistic move done for the good of the game or the realization he was polarizing the football world into camps. The fact is the US investigations led by Loretta Lynch and the FBI are now centered around a smaller and tighter circle of Blatter’s trusted lieutenants, seriously undermining his protestations of innocence of being above the corruption swirling FIFA.

Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s secretary general and Sepp Blatter’s right hand man is controversially linked to a $10m transfer of funds to accounts held by Jack Warner, a former FIFA vice president and CONCACAF president for his support of South Africa’s 2010 World Cup bid.

Warner, another of Sepp Blatter’s most trusted acolytes also under indictment like his CONCACAF deputy Chuck Blazer, a modern day Blackbeard and the original whistleblower is now threatening to sing. In a hastily assembled press conference, Warner warned of an “avalanche of secrets” that will link FIFA’s payoffs to its executive committee including financing Trinidad’s 2010 national elections which brought the People’s Partnership coalition to power and resulted in Warner getting the National Security portfolio. More ominously for Blatter, this is what he said, “Blatter knows why he fell. And if anyone else knows, I do.”

Now, even more red meat as Jack Delaney, the former head of Irish football minutes ago revealed that the FAI received payments from FIFA for keeping quiet after Thierry Henry’s blatant handball goal sent Ireland crashing out of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers and ensured France’s entry. That act of calumny enraged Ireland for months with the FAI threatening legal action after their request for a replay was turned down. The threat did not materialize. Now,we know why.

As more and more whistleblowers slither out like denizens of the night after strong light hits cracks and crevices, what is increasingly apparent is the 2018 and 2022 World Cup, the lightning rods that led to the arrests of senior FIFA officials under allegations of corruption are no longer the primary focus. As Blazer himself indicates in his deposition, now made public, the system of bribes and vote buying was in place since 1992 when it came to choosing the host nation for the 1998 World Cup awarded to France after Warner, then CONCACAF’s president received a bribe from Morocco for their failed bid. For the 2010 World Cup, Blazer received $750,000 of the promised $1m from Warner after FIFA paid out $10m to CONCACAF for their South Africa vote. Morocco, under consideration was once again shaded after CONCACAF considered their bribe low ball after the South Africans came back with a much higher figure. Blazer who decided to co-operate after pleading guilty on charges of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering and income tax evasion also indicated there were many Gold Cups, the regional championship which the USA enters every two years were similarly rigged.

What is increasingly obvious too is Blatter’s record of a champion of non- Eurocentric football with his vision of development of the game beyond its traditional borders is being seriously threatened as these allegations show a president deliberately following the money as it shifted away from Europe towards Asia and Africa where a risk averse FIFA’s insistence on countries taking on complete liability would be far more welcome with increasingly mind boggling sums of money paid out for their World Cup awards. What kept Blatter in power was the voting power of such blocs like the AFC, the CAF, and CONCACAF, who on the face of it all were kept in thrall with his promise of inclusion into the world’s game. Now, it is all too clear as in the example of Morocco and South Africa, it was all about “show me the money” and divide and conquer.