Gianni Infantino. The very name has the ring of a mafia godfather.All the more so when translated into English: Johnny Baby.Not that he can be blamed for his genealogy. Just as it is no fault of the immigrant parents who named him that he has grown into the problem child of world football.That is down to the greatest game on earth for standing by as he plunges his sticky hands into the goodie jar.Oh, how tasty those treats are now. Trillions of dollars worth of global company investment, mega-brand sponsorships, gigantic advertising and mountains of merchandise.Oh, how the corporate greed will trample on the purity of Pele’s beautiful game, as it is worshipped by its hundreds of millions of faithful despite all its flaws. If Johnny Baby is allowed to flog off the World Cup in share lots as if it were just a pharmaceutical bloodsucker, high-tech upheaver of our daily life or mass armaments manufacturer profiteering off the human tragedy of all today’s wars. Gianni Infantino. The very name has the ring of a mafia godfather Oh, how the corporate greed will trample on the purity of Pele’s beautiful game, as it is worshipped by its hundreds of millions of faithful despite all its flawsBut who can stop Infantino who, like so many Italians before him, has found a pathway to power and riches via the American dream? When that wealthiest of all nations is governed by a patriot who frankly admits that his specialist expertise is in brokering business deals? When the presidents of FIFA and the US are a match made in boardroom heaven?So, again, who can stop Johnny Baby from hocking the family jewels?Time was when it would have been a steadfast, upright Englishman. When our own Sir Stanley Rous was president of a FIFA which held the good of the game above all else. As a family trust in the good old-fashioned way. Caring, not gluttonous.Time now, surely, for THE Football Association – still the first FA in the esteem of much of world football – to take the lead.To rally the diverse opinions of anxious believers on every continent, platitudinous politicians rushing to microphones, pious commentators et al behind an organised and concerted protest.Don’t leave it all to UEFA, whose concerns reflect all of ours but who have their own axes of rival authority to grind against FIFA.Time for THE FA to throw off its obsequience to the demands of the Premier League and revive the nostalgia for English propriety.Time to save the people’s game, which it must remain, from piracy. To rescue the greatest sporting show of all, which the World Cup is still despite all the trials and tribulations of 2026. To preserve the future of football as a game, not a plaything of the stock exchanges. Time was when it would have been a steadfast, upright Englishman. When our own Sir Stanley Rous was president of a FIFA which held the good of the game above all else FA chief executive Mark Bullingham (left) must stand up to what amounts to little more than a bribe To protect the World Cup. Firstly from extinction by a European boycott. Secondly from reduction into a repetitive everyday occurrence by its staging every other year. Thirdly by expansion into the lopsided tedium of more and more finalists (48 this year, 64 next time, 128 sooner than we can blink). All for the money. All, it would seem, on the Infantino agenda.THE FA can start by setting an example. Starting with a declaration that they would refuse their multi-million dollar handout if Johnny Baby’s plan bears fruit.A bribe by any other name for the poorer – and in some cases corrupt – countries on Planet Football if it all comes to a vote.For FA’s sake explain that this is an offer from the Infantino ‘football family’ which has to be refused. For the sake of all us football lovers, everywhere.