Blazer is an unusual figure, although as befits the current image of a key player in Fifa he was once described by a US court as delivering evidence that "lacked credibility". It is rare for an ExCo member not to have headed a federation or confederation, and a trawl through his hugely entertaining website creates the impression of a man happily starstruck by celebrity. In Zurich last year he is believed to have backed Russia for the 2018 World Cup and in the weeks leading up to the vote he paid a visit to Moscow after which he wrote a fawning blog entry in praise of Vladimir Putin, and posted a series of photographs of the Russian Prime Minister in full action-man mode.