ESPNSTAR.com columnist Jesse Fink says Mohamed bin Hammam might not be a huge improvement over Sepp BLatter as FIFA president.

You know Sepp Blatter has been in the job too long when he calls the most recent World Cup "the most splendid ever".

He should lose the FIFA presidency on that statement alone, quite apart from his prehistoric views on goal-line technology or his presiding over the prostitution of the greatest tournament in the world to the oligarchs of Russia and the sheikhs of Qatar over the better claims of England and the United States.

The problem the football world faces is there is not much of an alternative in Mohamed bin Hammam, the Asian Football Confederation boss who is as wily and political as the man he wants to replace and far less assured in front of the cameras. You couldn't find a more wooden orator than Bin Hammam.

At a time when the professional game needs to be snatched back from the rapacious clutches of Middle East money men and given a financial reality jolt, the well-connected Qatari is not the right man for the job.

Yet so desperate is the mood for change that even the English FA have thrown their support behind Bin Hammam, imploring him to stand against the Swiss incumbent.

Others will inevitably follow. Blatter made another enemy this week in FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer, who was infuriated by his CONCACAF confederation not receiving an increase in qualifying spots for Brazil 2014 and has suggested it could vote as a bloc against Blatter in the election.

The Americans are hopping mad with Blatter. The Australians are just as livid. The western Europeans, too, have had enough of his double talk, his empty promises and his relentless vanity.

The World Cup should always be staged by the best available host. Yet under Blatter's watch, pushing it into "new territories" is a more important consideration. Forget the heat. Forget the corruption. Forget the lack of democracy. What really matters is Blatter's legacy.

But Bin Hammam isn't that much better.

His AFC is a viper's nest of jealousies and enmities between east and west. In my view he showed lack of impartiality in the World Cup bidding process, clearly favouring Qatar over other bidders and fellow members of the AFC. And he hasn't done much about questionable elements in his own patch, such as football in Indonesia and its farcical administration.

Bin Hammam might think wearing his white suit sets him apart but it doesn't. The only thing that will set him apart is deeds. And, frankly, he hasn't done enough to be cast as a people's hero. Or at least not yet.

Should he nominate to stand against Blatter, though, he will carry an enormous amount of hope on his shoulders to deliver reform to a broken organisation and restore the faith of fans in how the game is run.

That hope is a privilege he perhaps doesn't deserve. But between now and June, the date of the election, he has time to show he is different and can offer change.

Something Blatter cannot. He lost all credibility long ago.