Ex-Yorkshire football coach and two agents convicted over bribes

TWO FOOTBALL agents and a coach convicted of bribery offences following an undercover newspaper investigation have received suspended prison sentences.

Tommy Wright, 54, the former assistant head coach of Barnsley Football Club, was found guilty by a jury of accepting a £5,000 bribe to leak commercial information about players.

He stood trial alongside two football agents – Giuseppe “Pino” Pagliara, 64, of Bury, Greater Manchester, and Dax Price, 48, of Sittingbourne, Kent – who were both convicted of paying a bribe.

The three, brought to trial following a Daily Telegraph probe into corruption in football in 2016, were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court yesterday.

Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC handed Wright a 12-month sentence, suspended for 12 months, to be served concurrently on each of two counts of receiving or accepting a bribe in contravention of the Bribery Act 2000.

Price received a sentence of 18 months, suspended for 18 months, to be served concurrently on each of two charges of offering or promising a bribe contrary to the same act.

Pagliara was given a two-year sentence, suspended for two years, also concurrent on two charges of offering or promising a bribe. Wright, of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was handed an envelope of cash during reporter Claire Newell’s investigation, the trial was told.

The journalist posed as a representative of a fake sports management company pretending to want to invest in football players in the UK.

In meetings with Price and Pagliara they claimed football club managers were “getting backhanders, 100 per cent” to secure lucrative deals.

Lewis Power QC, representing Wright, said his motivation for getting involved with Pagliara and Price was to turn Barnsley into a better club.

Mr Power said Wright’s current club Swindon Town continued to stand by him, with his conviction leaving his family “devastated”.

He said Wright was “manipulated by others”, but he “understands and respects” the jury’s verdict.

In a letter read out in court, Wright admitted to “naivety”.