The way in which Sepp Blatter's ridiculous comments regarding racism spilled out unguarded just demonstrated that those in power do not take these issues as seriously as they should, or indeed as seriously as they say they do.
Blatter has made a big play of the initiatives FIFA have been involved with to combat racism but he is trying to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted. It is too late. He can't go out and do his job properly anymore because he is not respected. If he is going to find respect anywhere it will only be on his own doorstep.
Blatter's attempts at damage limitation have been a bit embarrassing. FIFA is a political body, it is not a football body any more, and the picture they released with Blatter's statement just smelled like propaganda. I don't know who they think they are kidding really.
The suggestion that if someone is racially abused they should just settle things with a handshake is completely farcical. It is just unrealistic. Do you honestly think you can make a difference by shaking hands? I tell you, if I had tried to shake hands with everyone who called me names at school, I would have been in a right state - I wouldn't have had a professional career.
Could I have gone and shaken hands with 25,000 Leeds fans when they were singing and telling me what colour was absent from the Union Jack? No, of course not. I don't know where he has got this idea from. If he sorts out all his problems with a mere handshake then he is a very, very lucky man.
No black player playing across the world is going to think that Blatter is a FIFA president who has their best interests at heart. Prior to what he said I suspect many black players thought that in any case. Really, what we are hearing now is no different to what we have said before: it's the same idiot but a different story.
It is not just one man - we can't pin all football's failings on Sepp Blatter - but those in power set the tone. In all departments and all areas, something is wrong in football. The future of football is being jeopardised because young children might get turned off the game.
FIFA has grown so much that now all they can see is green notes in front of their eyes. What they should have been doing is ensuring that projects like Kick It Out are present and operating in each country to tackle racism all over the globe. They should be investing in and engaging with projects.
It is not just about the colour of your skin: FIFA should be addressing all kinds of discrimination. People of every kind of creed are affected by these issues. The man at the top of the tree should not be fatally undermining the effort his own governing body is making.
Football is losing its way; it is a sport that is difficult to love at present. Everyone is going through a difficult period in their relationship with football because of everything we are reading at the moment and all the news that is coming out.
English football, to its credit, does take issues of racism very, very seriously, but we cannot afford to be complacent. Not with two high-profile cases being investigated as we speak. The situations involving John Terry and Anton Ferdinand and Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra mean we are under scrutiny because people are waiting to see what our FA does about the situation.
We have to get our own house in order before shouting from the roof-tops about what the likes of Blatter are doing.
All of a sudden everyone is demanding he be sacked but we all know that it is virtually impossible and we should all understand that. All I can say now is that everyone recognises the issues, even if it seems that outside the British Isles, no one is getting involved in it.
There is no support from Europe and no support from South America. The concern has been predominantly British, which is a concern but is not a surprise. They probably see us as whingers because we haven't got over the failure of the World Cup bid.