Tue 19 Sep 06
The Bung is out of the Bag
The Beeb reveals in a Panorama documentary two alleged incidents of payments by agents to football managers.
- Luton Town’s Mike Newell says freelance football agent Charles Collymore offered him a cut of a player’s fee that he tried to negotiate.
- Two agents have claimed they made illegal payments to secure transfer deals with a former candidate for the England football manager’s job. In an undercover BBC Panorama film, agent Teni Yerima says he bribed Bolton manager Sam Allardyce. Agent Peter Harrison says he paid Mr Allardyce’s son to secure deals with Bolton and Craig Allardyce is filmed boasting about access to his father.
Newell drew notoriety earlier as the first manager to make public claims about illegal payments. The timing of the Panorama program is interesting in light of the upcoming Stevens report on transfer payments.
Update: The FA is launching a probe into the allegations in the Panorama documentary.
Paul Canniff
