Top coach gave bribery advice
Assistant manager of Premier League team filmed telling undercover reporter how to pay senior club officials
THE assistant manager of a Premier League football club was filmed offering advice on giving bribes to officials at other clubs during a conversation about signing players, The Daily Tele
graph can disclose. Eric Black, who works at Southampton FC, suggested that “a couple of grand” might persuade a colleague at another club to pass on information about players to a company that wanted to represent footballers.
Naming the assistant manager of a Championship side, he said “it doesn’t take too much to get these people involved” because “they won’t have an awful lot of money”. Football Associa- tion rules explicitly ban such payments, and state that club officials such as Mr Black should immediately report any potential breach to the FA. Last night Mr Black denied making any suggestion that football officials should be paid during transfer negotiations.
Before Southampton FC had been made aware of the Telegraph’s investigation of Mr Black, club chairman Ralph Krueger had said he was “shocked and shuddered” by earlier revelations about corruption in football and had promised his club would lead the way in cleaning up the game.
Last night Southampton pledged to “work closely” with the FA and Premier League “when the facts become clear”.
City of London Police said it would review the Telegraph dossier, including allegations that eight current or recent Premier League managers had taken bribes, to establish whether criminal offences had been committed.
Tommy Wright, assistant manager of Barnsley FC, was yesterday sacked by the club, having been suspended over this newspaper’s disclosure that he accepted a £5,000 cash “bung” in a meeting with undercover reporters.
Chris Coleman, the manager of Wales, responded to the investigation by calling for lifetime bans for anyone found guilty of corruption in football, saying: “If there is evidence against someone and they are found guilty, then get rid of them from the game and they should never be allowed back.”
Senior figures from the FA and elsewhere could now be summoned before MPs to be questioned about corruption after Damian Collins, the acting chairman of the culture, media and sport select committee, said he and his colleagues were considering whether to start an inquiry.
Mr Black, 52, met an undercover reporter on Sept 2 at a hotel in Hampshire, believing the journalist to be a representative of a Far East firm interested in breaking into English football’s billionpound transfer market.
During the meeting, which was arranged by his long-term friend Scott McGarvey, a football agent, he suggested the pair should approach a named assistant manager at a Championship club. Mr Black said: “You say, ‘look, we’ve set up the company, we want to go big, you build up the whole thing and you would do brilliantly, then, y’know, if you get somebody, we’ll give you a couple of grand or something...’”
The undercover reporter asked Mr Black: “Did you say he’s a scout?”
Mr Black replied: “He’s assistant manager.”
Last night a spokesman for Mr Black said: “[Mr Black] does not recall Mr McGarvey making suggestions that football officials should be paid during transfer negotiations – this was not the purpose of the meeting so far as our client understood it. Any suggestion that he was complicit in such discussions is false.” The spokesman said his reference to paying “a couple of grand” related to a freelance scout he suggested the Far East company should approach.
THE Lime Wood Hotel, in the heart of the New Forest, is a favourite for luxury romantic breaks, spa weekends and dinner dates among the more privileged residents of Hampshire.
One Friday afternoon earlier this month, its Courtyard bar was filled with smartly dressed couples, young families and ladies of a certain age enjoying cream teas, cocktails or even an early glass of champagne.
Tucked away in a corner were two middle-aged men whom an avid football fan might have recognised as Eric Black, assistant manager of Southampton FC, and Scott McGarvey, former Manchester United striker turned football agent.
As they shared a £99 bottle of Laurent Perrier rosé champagne, their conversation jarred with the chatter and laughter around them as they discussed the subject of paying “bungs” to football club officials.
Mr Black, as a senior official at a Premier League club, might have been expected to warn his old friend, whom he has known since they were teenagers in Glasgow, that bribery was off-limits. Instead he started giving him advice on how to go about it.
Mr McGarvey had arranged for Mr Black to meet a representative of a Far East firm looking to make money from the billion-pound Premier League transfer market.
Mr McGarvey had suggested that Mr Black might be able to help the firm with advice, or identify players who could be signed up to management contracts. In fact, the businesswoman was an undercover Telegraph reporter.
Mr McGarvey thought he was going to be working for the Far East firm, identifying young, talented players who could be signed up by the company, which would represent the players, entitling it to a share of the proceeds of any future transfer fees.
He suggested that the company could pay club officials to help identify players who might be approached.
“I’ll be dead honest with you,” said Mr McGarvey. “I’ve done it before, the youth team manager doesn’t earn a lot of money, 60, 70 grand, maybe 40 grand at [named club], and I go, ‘by the way, here’s two grand. I’ll give you two grand every ----ing month, but I need you to get me the best young players in the country.’ ”
Mr Black responded by talking about a “mate of mine” who is assistant manager at a leading Championship club who he suggested might be helpful.
“Would he have a coffee with me, do you think?” asked Mr McGarvey.
“Course he would, yeah,” Mr Black assured him.
Mr McGarvey replied: “I’d go and see him… I’d introduce myself, [name of club], that Eric is his mate.”
Mr Black then discussed the subject of his friend being paid for identifying players. “These people, at that level … they won’t have an awful lot of money, know what I mean? He’s not – you don’t even need to pay him.
“You say, look, we’ve set up the company, we want to go big, you build up the whole thing and you would do brilliant- ly, then, y’know, if you get somebody we’ll give you a couple of grand or something or – at this moment in time he’s giving it to people and he’s no [not] getting anything.”
The reporter said: “We can almost give him a percentage or something for the ones that we sign.”
Mr Black responded: “You might even not need to give him a percentage … it doesn’t take too much to get these people involved, I don’t think [reporter: “It might be a couple of grand here and there”] yeah, commit. I don’t think you need to commit to percentages.”
FA rules state that intermediaries “must not give, offer or seek to offer, any consideration of any kind” to a club official “in return for any benefit, service, favour or any kind of preferential treatment”. Officials are banned from accepting such offers and are required to report any potential breach of the rules to the FA.
Mr Black, 52, revered by Aberdeen fans for scoring in the club’s European Cup Winners’ Cup final win over Real Madrid in 1983, had arranged with Mr McGarvey for the Sept 2 meeting to be held at the Lime Wood.
He lives in the Midlands, having been caretaker manager of Aston Villa FC, and regularly stays at Hampshire hotels including the Lime Wood, where rooms cost £330 to £1,050. Mr McGarvey told him of a plan to pay managers to speak to investors in the Far East firm during trips to Singapore and Hong Kong.
“We had this little plan,” said Mr McGarvey. “We’ll give some managers a few quid. There’s a lot of managers who I’m saying don’t take anything. Because for 100 grand or 50 grand in readies, they get caught, they’re three million, four million pound a year, they could lose their job and lose everything over a 50 grand bung. What we’ve got going on, so somebody like [a named manager] will do public speaking … I can’t give anyone a chance to go back to the chief executive and say, ‘he offered me a bung,’ because you’d be out of the game. Who’s going to say that?
“So I’m going to say … come out, we’ll give you a hundred grand. We’d want you to do a little motivational speech. They’ve got an investment kind of deal so you can send it to wherever you want. You want to do it to a charity, you want to give the percentage to your mum and dad, do it to a charity.” Mr Black: “Or a bank account. You could always do it that way.”
The reporter: “He can invoice us, or whatever, whatever he likes…”
Mr Black: “Have him do it through a limited company or something, you can just invoice it through that.” Mr McGarvey also raised the prospect of Mr Black identifying players for the Far East firm to approach, though no payment was offered to Mr Black.
He said: “You know when you’re watching the games, Eric … and you think there’s a young kid who’s really good. You give me a name?” Mr Black replied: “There is one there at the moment at Charlton… there’s a lot looking at him.”
A spokesman for Mr McGarvey told the Telegraph: “There is little doubt that the lure of the project and his role in it has resulted in our client providing colourful information to enhance and secure his role as was being offered to him.” A spokesman for the Championship club and the assistant manager named by Mr Black said: “[Mr X] denies being compliant or aware of Mr Black’s suggestions and has never met Mr McGarvey regarding the subject … the club would not agree to any arrangement where staff members are paid by agents.”
A spokesman for Mr Black said: “[Mr Black] does not recall Mr McGarvey making suggestions that football officials should be paid during transfer negotiations – this was not the purpose of the meeting so far as our client understood it.
“Any suggestion that he was complicit in such discussions is false.”
The reference to paying “a couple of grand” related to a freelance scout he suggested the Far East company should approach, the spokesman said.
Advising on how the fictitious Far East company could approach club officials “You know, if you get somebody, we’ll give you a couple of grand or something” On why club managers would agree to be paid by the fake company “These people, at that level, they won’t have an awful lot of money, know what I mean? He’s not – you don’t even need to pay him” On how managers could be paid to speak in the Far East “Have him do it through a limited company or something, you can just invoice it through that”