THE FA Premier League launched a formal investigation yesterday into claims that a bung culture plagues professional football with a pledge to “clean this thing up one way or another”. The inquiry, which will be independent of the 20 top clubs but has their unanimous backing, follows a string of public allegations that people involved in player transfers have offered or taken illegal financial incentives on the side.
The most recent controversy was fuelled by Sven-Göran Eriksson, the England head coach, after he was attributed by a Sunday newspaper with the claim that he knew of three Premiership clubs guilty of the practice. His comments caused consternation among chairmen and prompted the latest in a line of inquiries into football corruption, although the Premier League denied that it was a kneejerk reaction.
“We do not exist in a vacuum. There will be other inquiries going on but this one is important,” Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, said. “It is a piece in the overall jigsaw.”
While the Premier League searches for an independent chairman, probably a QC with some knowledge of sport but no direct interest in any club, to lead an inquiry that will cover more than 1,000 transfers, it can count itself among six similar corruption probes by different football bodies. The FA’s compliance unit is examining the publicly aired frustrations of Mike Newell, the Luton Town manager, about unscrupulous agents and rival club officials.
Similar inquiries, some albeit with a wider view on corporate governance in the game, are being conducted by Fifa, Uefa, the Independent Football Commission and an association of agents.
Advertisement
Scudamore is following in the footsteps of Rick Parry, his predecessor, who launched a bungs inquiry in 1993. Parry, now the Liverpool chief executive, Robert Reid, QC, and Steve Coppell, the Reading manager who was out of the game at the time, took five years to conclude that it was impossible to find proof of illegal payments.
George Graham remains the only manager to be brought to book for taking bungs, but he was caught out by the Inland Revenue and not by the football authorities.
Scudamore is adamant, however, that the Premier League’s inquiry will “come up with something”. “All we want to get to is the truth no matter how bad or good,” he said. “There has been a consistency and a frequency of these allegations swimming around. We owe it to the people in the game to nail these allegations once and for all. The clubs are fed up with the unfounded speculation that goes unchecked.”
The remit of the inquiry may evolve with time, but the Premier League can act only within its jurisdiction. Only the deals in the five transfer windows since January 2004 will be studied — no mean feat in itself, given that Premiership clubs were involved in 550 permanent transfers as well as more than 500 loan deals. The focus will be on whether any club employees or officials, rather than agents or other third parties, made or accepted irregular payments.
If they have, they will face disciplinary action for breaking league rules and could be handed over to other football bodies or external regulators for further investigation. Eriksson will be summoned to co-operate with its inquiry, something that he said he is “extremely happy” to do.
Advertisement
Scudamore denied that the Premier League had pressured the FA to dismiss Eriksson, but the clubs’ displeasure at the England head coach’s alleged comments was clear. “If anybody accuses you of being corrupt it’s not something you react particularly kindly to. It doesn’t matter who says it. It is not acceptable,” Scudamore said. “There is a language being used now that suggests it is a given that these things are going on. There is absolutely no tolerance of that culture in the Premier League. We are going to clean this thing up one way or another.”