Barnsley suspend assistant coach in ‘bung’ claim
CHAMPIONSHIP club Barnsley said Wednesday t hey had suspended assistant head coach Tommy Wright following the latest allegations of corruption in English football published by Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.
But Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, the manager of Barnsley’s English second-tier rivals QPR, denied Telegraph allegations he had requested a fee of £ 55,000 ( US$ 71,597, 63,829 euros) to work for a fake Far Eastern firm seeking to sell players to the west London club.
The Telegraph alleged Wright accepted a £ 5,000 “bung” during a series of meetings with reporters, again posing as a fake Far East company, in which he agreed to help sign players part- owned by the firm.
English second-tier side Barnsley said in a statement: “Barnsley FC is aware of allegations made by the Telegraph against Tommy Wright.
“The club has today suspended Tommy pending an internal i nve s t i gat ion i nto t he s e allegations.”
Meanwhi le in a separate Telegraph video, former Dutch striker Hasselbaink was seen requesting a “nice figure” for a role which the newspaper said would involve trips to meet with the firm in Singapore.
“You said the word business. That’s all, it’s business, so it depends what you put down, you know... at the end of the day, it has to be worthwhile to go all that way,” Hasselbaink said.
But in a statement issued Wednesday, the 44- year- old Hasselbaink insisted he had done nothing untoward.
“I have today, through my lawyers, responded in full to the accusations levelled against me by The Telegraph.
“I was approached by Mr McGarvey and Ms Newell of The Telegraph purporting to be players’ agents. They offered me a fee to make a speech in Singapore.
“I do not see anything unusual in being offered to be paid to make a speech.
“I did not make any promises in return. I did not ask QPR to purchase any of the players who were said to be managed by Mr McGarvey and Ms Newell and did not and would not recommend the purchase of a player for my personal gain.
“I deny any accusations of wrongdoing on my part.”
Queens Park Rangers said they had “every confidence” in Hasselbaink, although they added he would be subjected to a “thorough internal investigation”.
The allegations against Wright and Hasselbaink form part of a series of revelations published by the Telegraph following an undercover investigation into corruption in football which on Tuesday ended Sam Allardyce’s time as England manager after just one game in charge.
Al l a r dyc e ’ s r e i g n wa s sensationally brought to a close after an indiscreet discussion with Telegraph reporters once more playing the role of Far East businessmen.
The 61-year- old Allardyce was secretly filmed giving advice on how to circumnavigate transfer rules and mocking his England predecessor Roy Hodgson.
Allardyce, appointed England manager in July on a £ 3 million ( US$ 3.9 mil lion, 3.5 mil lion euros) - a- year contract, also agreed to travel to Singapore and Hong Kong as an ambassador for their fictitious firm for a fee of £ 400,000.
Many observers have questioned why Allardyce would want the extra money given his England salary. — AFP