Football Bungs

Norbert's comment - 20 Sept 2006
Caught with the hand in the cookie jar?

After watching the Panorama programme Football's Dirty Secrets on the BBC last night about corruption in football and the continuing seedy mess that surrounds soccer agents and their dealing with English football clubs, I feel compelled to voice my opinion.

Before watching the programme, and without any prior knowledge of the contents of it, I remarked to my wife that I thought Bolton, Harry Redknapp, Middlesboro and Newcastle would be likely to feature heavily in the programme.

Don't ask me why, I just thought that these would be the most likely suspects from my following of the Premiership over it's relatively short lifetime.

I wasn't too far off the mark though was I?

What pleased me most, was that Mike Newell was vindicated in making his own allegations all those months ago. The agent he named, Charles Collymore, quite clearly stated "There's managers out there who take bungs all day long".

I wonder if Big Sam will look Newell in the eye the next time they cross paths at an FA function?

There is a long way to go for anything to be proven and taken to court, but a good few sleazy characters will not be sleeping too easily tonight.

It was almost embarassing to read the statements provided by the main protagonists in the whole affair.

The managers were keen to stress that they had never asked for or taken bungs and knew no-one who had, and the agents seemed happy to claim that they had made up their claims or were just ingulging in banter.
Yea right.

What also occured to me was that the agents involved came across to me in a way that would make me very unlikely to buy a second hand car off any of them, let alone trust them with a financial deal worth £millions.

You would think that clubs would surely have more sense as well. There seemed to be evidence that if you can get to the right person, get them alone for an hour or two at the airport, or in a nice posh hotel that anything was possible. Bizarre.

We all live in a house right?
It's probably the most money us mere mortals are likely to spend on one thing in our lives. Can any of you remember negotiating the purchase or sale of a house down the Ramada Jarvis?
No, you go through the proper channels, offers are made, solicitors get involved and some time later you get a piece of paper that tells you that you own a property.

There would seem to be already a similar procedure in place to conduct dealings between agents and clubs, policed by the FA. It also seems that the agents don't seem to care too much for following that procedure. As long as the paperwork submittted to the FA seems in order, there's nothing to worry about.

What happens next in the football bung scandal is largely at the door of the FA, who presumably already have access to unedited footage of the Panorama documentary.

I would also expect the Police and the Inland Revenue to be vigorously investigating their own avenues in the coming months.

It's very easy to be negative about the current state of English football, and in particular the influence of money in the Premiership, but this latest episode only seems to depressingly confirm what a lot of us believe goes on in the game.

Big fat greedy bastards in their lofty positions, with their massive salaries and unbelievably privileged lifestyles really do deserve everything that is coming to them.

We'd like to know your thoughts on the affair - If you've got something to say on it, we'll publish it. Send your comments here: Football Bungs