Football corruption scandal: Eight Premier League managers have taken bungs for player transfers, latest revelations claim
EIGHT Premier League managers have been accused of receiving “bungs” for player transfers in another huge scandal for English football.
As Sam Allardyce last night lost his job as national team boss after just one game and 67 days in charge, it has now been revealed more may have questions to answer.
And it was reported Cardiff City FC investigated payments in a loan transfer of a player from West Ham when Allardyce was manager at the East London club.
Football agents have been filmed by undercover reporters claiming the eight current or recent top-flight managers and two from Championship clubs have taken backhanders.
Pino Pagliara, an unlicensed Italian agent banned from football for five years for match-fixing in 2005, was recorded naming the “bent” team bosses at a restaurant in Manchester.
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He said: “There’s one thing I’ve always been able to rely on, and that is the greed of general managers.
"In football everything is underneath the table… I mastered that."
Mr Pagliara added one manager uses the code word “coffee” for taking money.
He said: “We know him very, very well. We do a transfer to [named club], [X] has winked at us and said yeah, I want the player. Is there a little coffee for me, Pino? Yeah, that’s what he will say. Yeah, course there is. I’ll negotiate that coffee as well.”
The agent even claimed the “coffee” manager had also fixed a match.
During his meetings with the undercover reporters from the Daily Telegraph at the San Carlo restaurant, Mr Pagliara said he felt like telling one manager he dealt with: “You’ve had more backhanders than Wimbledon.”
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Mr Pagliara has made various big deals in England, including bringing Fabrizio Ravanelli to Middlesbrough from Italian giants Juventus for £7million in 1996.
He also brokered a deal between another Italian club Parma and Chelsea in the same year for the transfer of Gianfranco Zola, who would go on to be a legend at the London club.
Allardyce’s pal and ex-Manchester United forward Scott McGarvey also met other undercover reporters from the newspaper, as did Mr Pagliara’s business partner, Dax Price.
Both men named some of the managers the Italian agent had previously discussed.
Mr McGarvey, who denied any wrongdoing, admitted to personally paying two managers in relation to player transfers.
The new information has left the Football Association facing its biggest crisis in recent years.
It is having to deal with evidence that attempts to clean up the game have failed — while it also has to begin the search for a new England team manager.
Meanwhile, it was reported Cardiff launched an investigation after discovering unexplained payments in the 2014 loan move of ex-England under-21 star Ravel Morrison from Allardyce’s then club West Ham.
The player’s switch to the Welsh Championship side was examined after questions were raised over fees relating to the deal.
Mr Pagliara claimed payments had been agreed with Allardyce over the loan of Morrison, according to the Telegraph.
But Cardiff failed to put the allegation to Big Sam, the police or the FA, which is an apparent breach of the governing body’s rules.
External investigators, brought in by Cardiff could not find any evidence of the payment being made to Allardyce, or of any payment being made directly to Mr Pagliara, and the club wound up the inquiry.
Allardyce has previously denied ever taking bribes for player transfers.
He failed to respond to questions from the .
Mr Pagliara said last night: “I never paid any payment to Sam Allardyce.”
He also denied that he had told Cardiff City he had paid Allardyce in the deal.
A spokesman for Cardiff said: “Mr Pagliara was not paid by the club.
“We investigated the matter thoroughly.”
Two years ago, as West Ham boss, Allardyce had to deny he had pressured starlet Morrison, now 23 and playing for Italian club Lazio, to sign with his agent Mark Curtis.
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