Blazer has been sacked insists acting CONCACAF President

By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich

June 1 – The position of FIFA bribery whistleblower Chuck Blazer (pictured) hung the balance today as the new acting boss of his CONCACAF Confederation insisted the burly American had been sacked as general secretary.

Blazer was relieved of his duties in the early hours of this morning by acting President Lisle Austin, who has temporarily succeeded Jack Warner, exposed by Blazer and suspended by FIFA on Sunday (May 29) for his alleged role in the bribes-for-votes scandal.

Shortly afterwards CONCACAF’s head office in New York claimed that Blazer’s dismissal was unconstitutional and taken without any authority and that Austin, from Barbados, did not have permission to take such action.

But as the power struggle intensified, two statements by Austin have re-iterated the fact the Blazer no longer works for the organisation, the latest accusing him of “waging war” against the Confederation’s senior vice-president, a staunch Warner ally.

Austin’s first statement, which he farcically said would be his last, accused Blazer of “trespassing” by breaking a series of CONCACAF regulations after he was apparently fired.

Then, just as Sepp Blatter was about to be re-elected FIFA President, Austin issued another saying an communiqué issued by the CONCACAF head office in New York in support of Blazer was “another blatant disregard for process and procedure by the former staff member”.

It accused Blazer of illegally using CONCACAF services and equipment from his hotel in Zurich, the very same kind of accusation levelled at Warner by Blazer when the former was reported to FIFA for allegedly breaching his ban from all football-related activities.

“The former general secretary…presently still has access to all of the Confederation’s online services,” said Austin’s statement.

“It is interesting to note that Mr Blazer received his letter of dismissal at 11:55pm [Zurich time] last night; however an official statement was released on his behalf by the CONCACAF media department just before 2am this morning.

“In my capacity as acting President, I will not order the immediate shut down of all online facilities of the Confederation due the integral role it plays in our day to day operations.”

“It saddens me to note that Mr Blazer is using the online publications of a Confederation of which he is no longer employed to wage a war against the Office of the acting President.”

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