UEFA: "We will take measures which are imperative for football's well-being" (Michel Platini)

"We will take measures which are imperative for football's well-being," said Michel Platini, President of UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) in his end-of-the year message, on the 25/12/2013, which claims to be a call for "the safeguarding of football's essential values."

"All of these measures are not making us popular", he said. "That is patently clear. However, my aim is not to be popular. My aim is to be responsible."

"In recent months, football has not always projected the best possible image of itself," said Michel Platini as a review of the year 2013 for European football, on UEFA's website. "Practices which are morally reprehensible have persisted, despite efforts to eradicate them. The manipulation of matches; the violent or discriminatory excesses of extremist fringes which pollute the stands at certain stadiums; the excesses of the transfer system; the extravagant amounts collected by 'middlemen'; contracts which are not respected; players' salaries which are not paid; the trafficking of minors and the third-party ownership of players - a veritable time bomb in…