‘TAXMAN TO PROBE EVERY FOOTIE CLUB’

THE taxman is gunning for all Britain’s top football clubs in the latest finance scandal, a top sports lawyer warns.

Former AFC Bournemouth chairman Trevor Watkins says every club will have their books checked in the next three years.

Investigators suspicious about the amount of money they believe has gone missing in the game made surprise raids on Newcastle United and West Ham this week.

And Mr Watkins, global head of sport at top legal firm Pinsent Masons, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “They’re going to visit every single club over the next three years and have created their own specific football compliance project.

“Football has a huge amount of money on transfers, on media rights and the revenue are concerned about the tax treatment.

“We know it involves a number of clubs and involves off-shore transactions. The suspicion is that it probably related to payments to agents.”

It emerged yesterday that former Chelsea striker Demba Ba’s transfer is at the centre of the investigation.

The Senegalese star, 31, left West Ham for Newcastle in 2011 on a “free” but earned nearly £1million in image rights as part of the deal.

Investigators are also probing Newcastle’s £9.3m purchase of his international colleague Papiss Cisse, also 31, in 2012.