Wednesday 28 October 2015 19:35, UK
Greg Dyke has told MPs he believes Michel Platini is "unlikely" to be a candidate in FIFA's presidential election.
Football Association chairman Dyke offered Platini his public backing in the contest as recently as September 30, but the FA then withdrew its support after the UEFA boss was suspended by FIFA's ethics committee.
Platini is being investigated over a payment of around £1.3m, signed off by Sepp Blatter, which was accepted by the Frenchman in 2011 for work carried out between 1998-2002.
And Dyke says the FA's position on Platini changed when it was told there was no written contract for the payment.
"That there was no contract, or a verbal contract 10 years later seems to me unrealistic," he told the Culture, Media and Support Committee. "We were told initially there was a contract, we then discovered at that UEFA meeting there was no [written] contract."
Platini has been declared among a final list of seven candidates for February's FIFA election, but his candidacy cannot be officially approved by the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee until his suspension is lifted.
Dyke also pointed the finger at FIFA's auditors KPMG, adding: "Where has KPMG been for all these years? Quite big sums of money do not appear to have been accounted for. How do you account for suddenly giving the Irish 5m euros for Thierry Henry's handball?
"If Mr Blatter paid Mr Platini £1.5m 10 years later how is that accounted for, where did it come from? The first thing I would have done is send in a bunch of forensic accountants and see where the money came from and went to."
Asked if there was a will within UEFA to break away from FIFA, Dyke said: "Is there a critical mass in Europe to break away? FIFA is based around a World Cup, that's where the money comes from. If the big nations, or most were prepared to do something maybe, but I don't think that'll be the case."
Dyke, who said the FA will look into suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter's revelation that there was an agreement in place for the 2018 World Cup to go to Russia even before the vote took place, also confirmed the FA would ask questions to Asian football leader Shaikh Salman Ebrahim Al Khalifa about allegations he was involved in human rights abuses in his home country Bahrain.
Meanwhile, four FIFA sponsors have expressed concerns over the lack of independence in the reform process and conditions for migrant workers in World Cup 2022 host country Qatar.
The four companies - Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Anheuser-Busch Inbev and Visa - gave evidence to MPs sitting on the culture, media and sport select committee on Wednesday and expressed their dissatisfaction that of the 13-strong FIFA reform panel only one - chairman Francois Carrard - was from outside of football.
Visa vice chairman Ellen Richey said the company could sever its links if the situation does not improve.
Richey said: "If we are not satisfied in that regard we will reassess our sponsorship."
Earlier in October, the four companies all simultaneously called for Sepp Blatter to stand down as president. The MPs were told discussions were held with fellow sponsors Adidas about following suit but it refused to take part.
Peter Franklin, the Coca-Cola director in charge of its sponsorship for the last 20 years, added: "We believe Mr Carrard is independent but 12 out of 13 members were appointed by the national associations and therefore did not meet our expectations of independence."
