Second coach in England loses job after newspaper sting

BARNSLEY, England — A British newspaper investigation led to a second soccer coach getting fired in England on Thursday.

Two days after Sam Allardyce lost his job as England manager following an undercover operation by the Daily Telegraph, second-tier club Barnsley fired assistant coach Tommy Wright.

Wright was filmed apparently accepting an envelope which the Telegraph said contained 5,000 pounds ($6,500) from a fake Asian firm to help place players at the northern club. Video footage was released by the newspaper late Wednesday and Wright was immediately suspended by Barnsley.

“After considering Mr. Wright’s response to allegations in today’s Daily Telegraph about breaching (Football Association) rules over player transfers, Mr. Wright was dismissed,” the club said after a meeting with the coach on Thursday.

Barnsley said it was “unaware of such matters or involved in any wrongdoing.”

The English Football Association decided to terminate Allardyce’s contract on Tuesday after video showed him appearing to offer advice to fictitious businessmen on how to sidestep an outlawed player transfer practice, and also negotiating a 400,000 pound ($519,000) publicspeaking contract to top up an annual England salary of 3 million pounds ($4 million).

English soccer is reeling after four days of accusations by the Telegraph following its months-long investigation into alleged wrongdoing in the game.

In Friday’s edition, the newspaper published an article with video of Southampton’s assistant manager, Eric Black, allegedly telling undercover reporters that he knew a colleague at a second-tier club who could be persuaded to pass on information “for a couple of grand (thousand pounds)” about players to a fictitious company that wanted to represent footballers.

The Telegraph said Black denied wrongdoing.