Glenn Gibbons: Richard Nixon demise shows mighty can fall in Fifagate

SOME of those people who have been around long enough to have witnessed both events may have been struck by the similarities between the present-day, snowballing corruption scandal at Fifa and the Watergate affair that besmirched American politics back in the 1970s.

Then, as now, it was the shameless employment of dirty tricks to influence the outcome of an election that caused the problems. In Washington, DC, the covert activities and, even more damning, the attempted cover-up led to multiple prosecutions and, eventually, to the collapse of a Richard Nixon-headed administration that had previously seemed invulnerable.

The disgraced president’s downfall started almost unnoticed, with some small fry imprisoned. But, as each layer of the conspiracy was peeled back, more and more VIPs in the government went to jail, until the biggest fish of all resigned before he could be impeached.

The present Fifa dishonour has seen the removal of five of its Caribbean-based officials, banned for accepting bribes, as well as the lifetime exile from office of former presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam for offering them (at $40,000 a time). Another eight were reprimanded or warned and now a further ten have been charged and their cases will be heard next month.

Professional Fifa watchers (to say nothing of veterans of Watergate) are now tingling with anticipation, wondering how far – or, more tantalisingly, how high – the investigations will go.