Rory Jennings unveils five-point plan to save football and oust Gianni Infantino including instant relegation for ‘game’s gone’ offence

Aug 12, 2026 - 17:00
Rory Jennings unveils five-point plan to save football and oust Gianni Infantino including instant relegation for ‘game’s gone’ offence

Rory Jennings has revealed how he would revamp football if he were FIFA president.

Current FIFA boss Gianni Infantino remains under fire amid the fallout from his failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, with UEFA maintaining its threat to boycott future World Cups.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino looks on during a meeting with the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Infantino is up for re-election next year but is losing the support of FIFA member associations
AFP

US president Donald Trump has said it would be a ‘terrible mistake’ if Infantino were to be replaced (having last month backed him to head up the United Nations), but the 56-year-old is losing the support of FIFA member nations.

And on Tuesday’s talkSPORT DriveTime, Jamie O’Hara put Jennings forward for the role of FIFA president.

So, in a world with Jennings in charge of the game, what would change?

Well, there are five things…

“Right, the first thing that I do,” Jennings began, “there is a cap on ticket prices. It is now impossible for dynamic pricing to exist.

“And I’m going to be completely fair: if it’s a World Cup final, for example, an FA Cup final, a Champions League final… Tickets cannot cost more than £1,000. That is the max.

“And I appreciate that’s incredibly expensive and probably still too dear, but I’m trying to do this as fairly as possible and almost as realistically as possible.”

But there’s more, as Jennings explained: “A percentage of tickets goes to local fans for a token amount.

“So, regardless of the club, anywhere in the world, a percentage of tickets has to be available for a peppercorn amount of money to local fans. If you live within a 10-mile radius of the stadium, a percentage of tickets will be allocated to you for a maximum of £30 a ticket.”

And Jennings has another idea to improve the atmosphere in grounds.

“You increase away tickets in every stadium to 15 per cent,” he continued. “Atmospheres in this country are really struggling. Football stadiums have become so sanitised, so boring, so corporate that you need to elevate the atmosphere.

A view of the segregation between the away section and home section at Stamford Bridge.
Jennings wants more fans to be able to support their team away from home
AFP

“The way that you do it is by giving away more tickets to the away fans. Not every club can do it, but they will have the option of taking 15 per cent of the stadium.”

On top of that, there’s one thing Jennings is desperate to see the back of at games – or clubs will face severe consequences, much to the amusement of O’Hara.

“You ban, you immediately ban music after a goal that’s scored,” he insisted. “Any club that plays a song after a goal is scored are relegated straight away.

“If you play a song – so, Chelsea are doing it now – it’s so not who we are; it’s so against our culture.”

Nor does Jennings have any time for ‘stattos’ in football…

“We’re banning all statto types,” he went on. “Anyone that bases their footballing opinions not from playing the game, not from going to the game [but] from stats, from computers.

“If you want to talk about anything like that…talk about progressive passes, talk about pie charts, talk about anything like that… That is all immediately banned as is…You can use stats to enhance your opinion, but you can’t form your opinion off stats.”

Rory Jennings' five-point plan

  1. £1000 ticket price cap
  2. More tickets for local fans
  3. Increase away tickets to 15 per cent
  4. Ban music after goals
  5. Ban ‘stattos’ – don’t form an opinion off stats

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