FA urged to investigate corruption claims as agents and coach are convicted of bribery
THE Football Association was under pressure to open an investigation last night after two agents and a coach were convicted of bribery in a criminal trial.
Richard Caborn, the former sports minister, said football’s governing body must examine accusations aired during the trial that some of England’s highest profile managers had accepted “bungs” as part of player transfers.
A players’ agent and an assistant manager were found guilty yesterday of soliciting and accepting bribes to gain influence in the selection, management and ownership of players. Last week another agent was convicted of the same offences.
The three men were charged following an investigation by The Daily Telegraph into allegations of greed and corruption in English football.
During the trial, secretly recorded footage of meetings between the agents and an undercover reporter was played in which two of the men claimed that eight current and former Premier League managers, plus two Championship officials, had accepted “bungs”.
High-profile names cited as having taken payments and gifts included Sir Alex Ferguson, the former Manchester United manager; Sam Allardyce, the former England manager; and Harry Redknapp, the former Portsmouth manager, the court heard. The allegations were unsubstantiated and all the managers have strenuously denied any improper payments. During the trial, as part of their defence, the agents said they had been “lying” about the claims.
But the allegations, as well as the convictions, may fuel fears about improper conduct within English football and could mire the FA in a new crisis.
The Telegraph’s 10-month investigation culminated in its “Football For Sale” investigation in September 2016. Its first casualty was Allardyce, who was exposed for negotiating a £400,000 business deal and lost his job with the national team after just one match in charge.
The probity of English football was
thrust into the limelight when eight Premier League managers were accused of receiving bungs. The allegations are unsubstantiated but Giuseppe “Pino” Pagliara, an unlicensed Italian agent who was banned from football in his home country for five years for match-fixing in 2005, spoke about his reliance on the “greed” of managers. Another agent, Dax Price, said “corruption is just staring you in the face”.
Pagliara and Price were both charged with bribery offences after arranging for an undercover reporter to pay a “bung” to Tommy Wright, the assistant manager of Barnsley football club, who was also charged as part of a City of London investigation into corruption.
Yesterday, a jury of 11 convicted Price, 48, of Sittingbourne, Kent, on two counts of paying and facilitating a bribe. Jurors also returned a guilty verdict against Wright, 53, on two counts of accepting a bribe. Pagliara, 64, of Bury, Greater Manchester, had already been found guilty on two counts of paying and facilitating a bribe.
After the verdict, Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC warned Pagliara he was likely to face a “lengthy sentence”.
Last night, DC Chris Glover from the City of London Police’s Fraud Squad, said the agents and assistant manager were “corrupt individuals who abused their positions within the football industry for their own financial gain”.
He said: “[We would] like to thank the Telegraph, FA, Crown Prosecution Service and Barnsley Football Club for their assistance with this case”. Jessica Walker, specialist fraud division unit
‘I don’t want to get into the spicy world of your dealing – I’ll help your players with that dark world’
head for the CPS, also praised the work of The Telegraph and City of London police saying it was “through their investigation we could show beyond doubt these men were guilty of bribery”.
Mr Caborn said the FA had to examine the bribery claims and consider an inquiry to see whether “the regulation that is operating now in all these areas is fit for purpose”.
Yesterday, the jury at Southwark Crown Court decided on a majority verdict of 10 to one that Price and Wright had themselves tried to buy influence and solicit favours through secret payments. Price was found to have arranged with Pagliara to pay Wright £5,000 with the promise of another £5,000 in return for encouraging his players to sign with their sports agency, placing their players in the Barnsley first team, arranging a meeting with the owners of the club and supplying confidential information about his players’ contracts.
Price, who did not appear in the witness box for his defence, denied he was corrupt, saying through his barrister that he had been “bulls------g” and putting on a show for the fictitious conglomerate, telling its representatives “what they wanted to hear” in the hope of persuading it to buy a club. But over the course of the eight-week trial the jury heard numerous boasts from Price and Wright about using corrupt means.
Wright talked about “the spicy” and “dark” world of football finance. He was recorded telling Pagliara and Price: “I don’t want to get into the spicy world of your dealing”, later adding: “Yeah, dark world. I’ll help your players with that dark world.”
Wright said in court he was merely trying to “break the ice” with his “nervous” comments and claimed he had taken the £5,000 as a consultancy fee.
The three were released on bail pending sentencing.