In a week where the world witnessed one of the greatest-ever club sides make England’s champions look like 11 wax work models hired from Madam Tussauds for a Saturday night out in Wembley, it is somewhat galling to see a 75-year-old take centre stage waxing lyrical about the Fifa family.

Sepp Blatter, in his unique style, has completely overshadowed the achievements of Barcelona and the mesmerising display Pep Guardiola’s men unleashed on Manchester United last Saturday, instead brushing aside any suggestion that there are problems at Fifa and using the Champions League Final as an example of how world football is ingoodshape.

Far from being a case of sour grapes from the English FA and the media, Blatter and senior figures at Fifa are facing serious allegations that could, if proved to be correct, call into question their capability to run the sport.

Yet with the help of 172 spineless confederations voting against a motion to delay the presidential election, an unopposed Blatter will now take charge for a further four years which, if the previous four are anything to go by (absence of goal-line technology, Qatar 2022 reasoning), could be detrimental to the credibility of football.

Even though he faced no competition yesterday, Blatter couldn’t have done it without victory in the morning vote on whether to delay the presidential election. That only 34 nations voted to delay the election or not take sides is quite incredible.

As the old proverb goes,clever men are often employed by fools. Sadly for football, Fifa seems to be riddled with them.

However, the FA’s case has not been helped by pressing ahead with the 2018 World Cup bid knowing that there were deep-rooted problems in Fifa. Though a lot of effort had been put into organising the bid, all of the talk coming out of the FA’s headquarters would hold greater strength now had we pulled out before.

Is this in hindsight? Of course not. The first look of 2018 and 2022 voting taking place at the same time should have been a sign of things to come. The timing of BBC’s Panorama investigation was widely criticised at the time but now the contents form part of the argument against Fifa. Allegations were made even before the 2018 voting commenced.

Now the FA and English football find themselves in the doghouse, set to be snubbed for the foreseeable future. Instead of licking its wounds, the FA must now challenge Blatter and Fifa through strong campaigning and leadership – something that has been lacking until the last week.

The importance of change should not be understated. Football must be remembered for the jaw-dropping performances from the likes of Barcelona and not the jaw-dropping performances from an unopposed president in charge of a failing organisation.