During all my life, I heard a lot of stuff about Pelé: how great he was, how he could never play “modern” football, and how he is a sell off. Truth is, Pelé seems to be naturally good (or naturally trained) in PR. The greatest player in the World has never endorsed a product that would give him a bad image (when he did ads for Pepsi, soda was considered to be a sporty drink!). The guy is smart and knows how to play it safe.

Now a lot of people are indeed very opinionated about this issue. Here is one person’s post on a football forum:

“I must say that being the so called greatest player ever by some people Pele should really speak up with absolutely no inhibitions about the game. Pele is fast losing any respect he has by trying to appease the likes of Platini, Blatter and Warner by being their poodle or lapdog and being far too diplomatic. Pele should really come out and be open and frank about the issues surrounding our beautiful game rather than sit on the fence.”

Now here are the responses to it:

“Pele always let his play do the talking. If you had seen him play you would certainly drop the “so called” in your first paragraph.
It is the fault of professional football that we allow idiots like FIFA, UEFA and our FA run football. They are just leeches and live a life of luxury paid for by the fans and the games sponsors alike. At a recent world cup finals, FIFA spent more on hospitality than it cost to bring all the teams to the finals. Leave Pele as he is, a dignified and well respected man who has time for everyone.”

“Pele and his Brazilian tems for years have come over and more than proved themselves in Europe. When Pele played it was not as easy to go to Europe and the Brazilian FA refused to consider major offers to his club Santos,from Real Madrid in their peak to name just one. They said he was a national treasure and as such should stay in Brazil. Best packed up at 26 so what kind of a sustained career was that, Zidane in another era was a very good player. The others should not be mentioned in the same sentence as Pele.”

“maradona shouldn’t be considered then!!!#
ok he is a cheating f!!! but still!!” (hoho, Ok, this one I pushed!)

“Pele was a great player but his contribution to the game after he finished playing as far as I know is one of a diplomat rather than rock the boat. I don’t think he has done much for the good of the game since he left but that might be due to my ignorance.” (this fella also plays it safe!)

What do you think? Is pele a hero, a lapdog or a PR genius?