THE FA IS to investigate allegations that England football manager Sam Allardyce used his position to put together a £400,000 personal deal while offering advice to businessmen on how to ‘get around’ certain rules.
Following the publication of the claims by The Daily Telegraph last night, FA chairman Greg Clarke confirmed that he would meet with chief executive Martin Glenn this morning.
“I want all the facts, to hear everything from everyone and make a judgement about what to do,” Clarke told the Daily Mail.
Natural justice requires us to get to the bottom of the issues before we make any decision. It is not appropriate to pre-judge the issue. With things like this you have to take a deep breath.
According to the Telegraph’s sting, the newly appointed manager met with undercover reporters posing as businessmen from the Far East. The newspaper has footage of the 61-year-old allegedly negotiating a £400,000 public speaking deal, as well as discussing a way to circumvent rules prohibiting the third-party ownership of players.
It is understood the meeting took place in August, a few weeks after his appointment to the top job.
Third-party ownership was banned by the FA in 2008 before world governing body Fifa introduced an outright ban in 2015. The controversial practice allows companies to own a “stake” in a player and subsequently profit from big-money transfer deals.
According to the undercover reporters, Allardyce told them such rules were ‘not a problem’ and he knew agents who avoided them ‘all the time’.
He agreed to become an ambassador for the ‘businessmen’ and is heard talking about where the ‘big money’ is.
English media outlets have suggested this morning that his position is untenable given the conflict of interest that could arise if the national team’s manager has struck deals with companies which could potentially benefit from certain players doing well on the international scene.
No official comment has been made by Allardyce.
The Daily Telegraph has been working for 10 months on an investigation to “unearth widespread evidence of bribery and corruption in British football”.
Read the Daily Telegraph investigation in full here >
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