The Football Association (FA) of England is going through one of the toughest times in the last ten years. After an exclusive investigation by "The Telegraph," the national team had to part ways with head coach Sam Allardyce.
This week, "The Telegraph" published an article revealing that after a 10-month investigation, it was found that player agents and team coaches were secretly violating the FA rules introduced in 2008.
One of the individuals involved in the investigation is 61-year-old S. Allardyce. He is accused of accepting £400,000 from individuals posing as businessmen to help investors circumvent player transfer rules in football. In England, it is strictly prohibited for third parties to have any rights over football players.
"The Telegraph" covertly filmed S. Allardyce and player agents throughout the investigation. Advisors even indicated how much they paid the coach for the rights to a player's transfer and claimed that everything in football happens "under the table."
More Dirty Laundry
According to "The Telegraph," eight current and former Premier League coaches have been involved in "illegal player transfer games."
It is reported that last summer, journalists from the publication attended several meetings and revealed that eight Premier League representatives were accepting offers from businessmen for player sales. It also points out that corrupt coaches can be found in the Championship as well.
Adding insult to injury, "The Telegraph" has begun collaborating with the Football Association and will provide all the information gathered during the investigation. The police forces are also involved.
Players' "gifts" to coaches
Notorious football agent from Italy, Guiseppe Pagliara, who received a five-year ban for match-fixing in 2005, revealed in an interview with journalists posing as investors from Asia how one coach increased his salary.
"There were three players who would come to his office each month and individually give him a £4,000 gift. This means that he was making £12,000 per month from it," said G. Pagliara, covertly filmed.
So, each new deal brought coaches a profit of £4,000 per month. In reality, this amount supplemented the coach's budget not for good results but for a specific player deal or exchange.
The Problem - Bigger Than Expected
When new player transfer rules were introduced in 2008, it was expected that such misunderstandings would be avoided in the future. However, English football has not yet seen such a scandal.
The FA is shocked and promises to take even stronger measures. They were particularly shocked by the news that it was their association's former important figure, S. Allardyce, who was involved.
More resources will be directed towards the investigation. For example, today the English media reported that Southampton assistant coach Eric Black may also have been involved in illegal player transfers. You can read about it here.
It is expected that in the coming weeks, more names of coaches who may have acted against FA rules will be revealed.
Aivaras Katutis, eurofootball.lt
