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In 2006, several allegations were made of corruption in English football by sources inside and outside of the game.

Contents 1 Allegations 1.1 January - Managers 1.2 September - BBC Panorama 1.3 September - Telegraph Sport 2 Reaction 3 Stevens report 4 References

In January 2006, Luton Town manager Mike Newell and then-manager of Queens Park Rangers Ian Holloway alleged that backhanders (bribes) were rife in the sport ^{[1] [2] [3]} The Football Association subsequently held talks with the two managers and established an enquiry.

On 19 September 2006 the BBC current affairs television programme Panorama broadcast a special investigation into corruption in English football which had begun filming in August 2005.

"Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets" included footage shown of meetings between agents, managers and high ranking football club officials, filmed undercover by Knut auf dem Berge, a freelance coach posing as a prospective football agent. This footage purported to show agents and managers accepting backhanders and illegally "tapping-up" players under contract to other clubs.

These allegations included:

• That Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce, and his agent son Craig were alleged to have accepted "bungs" (bribes) from agents for signing certain players. Two agents, Teni Yerima and Peter Harrison, were secretly filmed, each separately claiming that they had paid Allardyce through his son. Allardyce denies ever taking, or asking for, a bung.^[4] The programme was aired on the same night that Bolton beat Walsall 3-1 in the Carling Cup, so Allardyce missed the original showing

• Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp is secretly filmed discussing the possibility of buying the Blackburn Rovers captain Andy Todd with agent Peter Harrison, which is illegal under FA rules. However, the programme merely showed Harrison approaching Redknapp and asking direct questions which Redknapp answered.

• Then Portsmouth first-team coach Kevin Bond, first team coach of Newcastle United when the programme was aired, is secretly recorded admitting he would consider discussing receiving payments from a proposed new agency involving agent Peter Harrison. This was the programme's description; it did not seem explicit from the extract broadcast. Bond was suspended and then sacked by Newcastle as a result of the allegations.

• Chelsea director of youth football Frank Arnesen is secretly filmed making an illegal approach or "tapping up" Middlesbrough's England youth star 15-year-old Nathan Porritt. Arnesen offers a fee of £150,000 spread over three years as an incentive to move, although he had been advised that it was 99.9% certain that Porritt would leave Middlesbrough. Both of these allegations are illegal under FA rules. Officials from Liverpool and Newcastle United were also implicated in attempts to sign Porritt.^[5]

• Agent Peter Harrison told the undercover reporter that, to secure transfer deals with Bolton, he bribed Sam Allardyce by offering to pay his son Craig. Harrison is a FIFA-listed agent, who is based in the north-east of England.

• That three different Bolton transfer signings involved secret payments from agents to Craig Allardyce, some when he was contractually banned from doing any Bolton deals. Panorama alleged Bolton's transfer signings of defender Tal Ben Haim, midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata and goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi involved secret payments from agents to Craig Allardyce. Allardyce's son quit the agency business in summer 2006, and has admitted in newspaper interviews that his working as an agent might have cost his father the chance of becoming England manager.

• Agent Charles Collymore, is secretly filmed in the Panorama film, saying: "There's managers out there who take bungs all day long. I would say to you comfortably there's six to eight managers we could definitely approach and they'd be up for this no problem." Later, Collymore is named publicly for the first time by Luton Town manager Mike Newell as the agent who offered him an illegal payment. Collymore also represents England cricketer Simon Jones.

The programme also claimed to have set up a 'sting' involving handing a cash payment to an unnamed Premiership manager, but the alleged manager did not turn up at the rendezvous. The programme claimed that he had been scared off by Mike Newell's claims being revealed that same day.

On 26 September, the Telegraph alleged that an unlicensed agent was paid in the deal to bring Tal Ben Haim to Bolton Wanderers. When the Israeli international moved to England, agent Jamie Hart - the official middle man - was paid a fee by Bolton. But he has now confirmed that unlicensed agent David Abu also received a cut of the fee for the role he played in the deal. Allardyce's son, Craig, a key protagonist in the Panorama documentary, also received a payment but when quizzed on such payments Bolton Chairman Phil Gartside confirmed he had no such knowledge ^[6]

On 3 March 2006, The Football Association established an enquiry to be headed by Lord Stevens, former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and former head of an enquiry into corruption in cricket ^[7]. The findings of Stevens' report were announced in December 2006.

On 20 September, The Football Association asked the BBC to provide all of the collected evidence and announced that it would investigate these allegations. It was to investigate allegations of illegal approaches involving Chelsea sporting director Frank Arnesen, Liverpool, Newcastle United and Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, along with allegations "relating to players' agents and connected activities" involving Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce, son Craig Allardyce, Newcastle United assistant manager Kevin Bond, and agents Charles Collymore and Peter Harrison ^[8].

All of those accused of impropriety have denied all allegations arising from the programme, including:

• Sam Allardyce: placed the matter in the hands of his lawyers ^[9]. He also confessed: “As a father it is painful to watch your son talk tall and exaggerate his influence for financial gain.” ^[10] On 25 September he announced that after lengthy discussions his lawyers had advised that "I have a very strong case in relation to the programme, and I am planning to sue the BBC over the false and highly damaging allegations. I have therefore instructed my lawyers to prepare my case against the BBC." Allardyce added that he would discuss the matter with Bolton chairman, Phil Gartside, as well as his wife before he took any final decision ^[11].

• Kevin Bond: intends to sue the BBC for libel ^[12]. Newcastle United placed him on gardening leave following the broadcast, and terminated his contract on 26 September. In response, Bond issued a statement claiming that Newcastle had sacked him without investigating properly ^{[13] [14]}. Bond was employed again within a month, as manager of AFC Bournemouth.

The League Managers Association has demanded hard evidence: "As the organisation which represents managers we were very disappointed with the programme. There was a complete lack of substance and evidence, and if the BBC has any hard evidence it should give it to the Football Association." ^[15] HM Revenue & Customs has also indicated it will look into the claims ^[16]

It was announced on October 2, 2006, that Lord Stevens' inquiry into football corruption, conducted with Quest Ltd, has been extended by two months to investigate 39 transfers involving eight clubs. On 20 December 2006, Stevens presented his preliminary report, which found that the level of corruption within English football was not a high as had been anticipated, there were several causes for concern^[17]. 17 transfer deals were still subject to further scrutiny.

2006-07 in English football v • d • e Club football International football Domestic Leagues Domestic Cups European Competitions Competitions involving England Premier League FA Cup Qualifying Rounds Champions League FIFA World Cup 2006 Group B Football League League Cup UEFA Cup UEFA Intertoto Cup 2006 Euro 2008 qualifying Group E Conference National Sven-Göran Eriksson Steve McClaren Other Events 2006 allegations of corruption in English football Award Winners PFA Award Young Player of the Year FWA Award European Footballer of the Year - Fabio Cannavaro FIFA World Player of the Year - Fabio Cannavaro Players transferred for over £10 million Andriy Shevchenko • John Obi Mikel • Dimitar Berbatov • Ruud van Nistelrooy • Michael Carrick • Dirk Kuyt • Obafemi Martins List of English football transfers 2006-07