Big Sam set up

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26thSEPTEMBER 2016 • 10:33PM
Sam Allardyce used his position as England manager to negotiate a £400,000 deal and offered advice to businessmen on how to “get around” FA rules on player transfers, The Telegraphcan disclose.

Before he had even held his first training session as England’s new head coach,Allardyce negotiated a deal with men purporting to represent a Far East firm that was hoping to profit from the Premier League’s billion-pound transfer market.

He agreed to travel to Singapore and Hong Kong as an ambassador and explained to the “businessmen” how they could circumvent Football Association rules which prohibit third parties “owning” players.

Unbeknown to Allardyce, the businessmen were undercover reporters and he was being filmed as part of a 10-month Telegraph investigation that separately unearthed widespread evidence of bribery and corruption in British football.

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Sam Allardyce explained to the businessmen how they could circumvent FA rules which prohibit third parties ‘owning’ players CREDIT: TELEGRAPH
Over the course of two meetings, lasting four hours in total, Allardyce told the fictitious businessmen that it was “not a problem” to bypass the rules introduced by his employers in 2008.

He said he knew of certain agents who were “doing it all the time” and added: “You can still get around it. I mean obviously the big money’s here.”

During Allardyce’s meetings with the reporters he also:

• Criticised his predecessor Roy Hodgson, dubbing him “Woy” and saying that he “hasn’t got the personality” for public speaking;
• Said England’s players were underperforming because they had a “psychological barrier” and “can’t cope”;
• Suggested that players who were not being played for their club should not be picked for England;
• Described the FA decision to redevelop Wembley as “stupid”.

The issue of “third party ownership” in football has been described as “slavery”. It effectively allows companies to own a stake in a footballer. The FA led the way by banning the practice in 2008 and football’s world governing body, Fifa, followed in 2015.

Allardyce, 61, told his prospective employers it was “not a problem” to dodge the “ridiculous” rules.

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Watch Allardyce mock Hodgson's voice and criticise NevillePlay!01:21

Last week the England manager followed up his initial meeting by having dinner with representatives of the fictitious firm in a Manchester restaurant, where he discussed dates when he could fly to Singapore.

Allardyce, who is paid £3 million a year plus bonuses by the FA, now faces questions about his judgment just weeks after his first and so far only match in charge of the national side. During the meetings he also made a series of remarks about the previous performances of the England team.

He said that Roy Hodgson was “too indecisive” during England’s crucial European Championship defeat to Iceland. He also said that Gary Neville – Hodgson’s assistant – was “the wrong influence” and should have been told to “sit down and shut up”.

The Telegraph began investigating corruption in English football last year after receiving information that specific managers, officials and agents were giving or receiving cash payments to secure player transfers.

Over the coming days, the Telegraph will detail a series of allegations of financial impropriety in British football which raise serious questions about the governance and influence of money within the game.

During this summer’s transfer window, Premier League clubs spent a record £1.17 billion on player transfers, with Championship clubs adding another £214 million.

The disclosures are likely to raise concerns at the FA about corruption in English football and whether the industry is adequately regulated. Allardyce’s comments are likely to lead to questions from his employers at the FA, who expect the England manager effectively to act as an ambassador.

A £400,000 agreement with a football agency firm is a potential conflict of interest for an international football manager as it raises the possibility that he is “employed” by a company whose footballer clients could benefit from preferential treatment.

Allardyce told undercover reporters that the banned practice was still possible in “all of South America, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, all of Africa” and that the Ecuadorean player Enner Valencia had been under a third party ownership agreement when he signed him for £12 million for West Ham from a Mexican club in 2014.

The third party ownership arrangementended on the transfer and West Ham acquired the player “whole”. Asked if it would be a problem to get involved in third party ownership. Allardyce said: “It’s not a problem.”

Third party ownership involves an agent or an investor owning part of the financial rights to a player, meaning transfer fees are partly paid to them when a player moves clubs, rather than the buying club paying all the money to the selling club.

During a meeting at a London hotel in August, Allardyce, who was appointed by the FA on July 22, was happy to discuss third party ownership of players with two undercover reporters posing as representatives of a Far East-based company looking to get a foothold in the lucrative world of English football.

He attended the meeting with his agent, Mark Curtis, and his financial adviser, Shane Moloney, after being approached via the football agent Scott McGarvey, a long-time friend of Allardyce who was unaware of the undercover reporters’ involvement.

Mr Moloney asked Allardyce: “What do you think they’re doing on the football transfers financing?… the thing they’re talking about is funding football transfers.”

Mr Curtis interjected: “Is that third party ownership a problem though?”

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Sam Allardyce, centre, with his financial advisor Shane Moloney, left, his agent Mark Curtis, second left, and football agent and former player Scott McGarvey at a meeting in London CREDIT: TELEGRAPH
Allardyce replied: “It’s not a problem… we got Valencia in. He was third party owned when we bought him from Mexico.” Mr Moloney made it clear that the ownership arrangement ended with the transfer.

Allardyce also gave advice on where third party ownership was still possible, despite the worldwide Fifa ban.

Allardyce has not been immune to controversy during his career managing clubs including West Ham United, Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers. In 2006 he was implicated in a BBC Panorama programme which alleged that he had taken “bungs” – a claim he denied. An independent investigation by the former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Stevens found no evidence of irregular payments.

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How does third party ownership of footballers work?Play!01:55

The Telegraph detailed its findings in an email to the FA yesterday morning which set out 18 questions about its findings, including Allardyce’s comments in the two meetings. However, the FA declined to answer any of the questions without receiving full transcripts of the conversations.

A spokesman replied nine hours later saying: “We have asked The Daily Telegraph to provide us with the full facts in relation to this matter.”

The Telegraph put questions to Mr Allardyce, Mr Curtis and Mr Moloney 12 hours before going to press. All failed to respond.



IN QUOTES | What Sam Allardyce said
On why Roy Hodgson, former England manager, would not be a good public speaker:

“He’d send them all to sleep, Roy. Woy. He hasn’t got the personality for it.”

On where Roy Hodgson went wrong as England manager:

“Players let him down in the end. I think maybe he, he was too indecisive. Cast a bit of an anxiety over to the players maybe. I mean prior to the Iceland game, he won all 10 qualifiers. We'd drawn with Russia, we should have won. We beat Wales, and that was our worst performance. We drew with Slovakia, and we only had to draw with Iceland to get through ... he just collapsed.”

On Gary Neville, former assistant manager England manager, advising Hodgson on the decision to substitute on Marcus Rashford during the match against Iceland in the Euros:

“They were arguing for 10 minutes about bringing him on, him and Gary Neville. So Gary was the wrong influence for him. ----ing tell Gary to sit down and shut up, so you can do what you want. You’re the manager, you do what you want, not what they anyone else”

On the chances of footballers playing for England:

"Can’t play them then. Joe Hart. Jack Wilshere, on the bench for Arsenal. Oxlade-Chamberlain on the bench. You can play them, but they’re not playing for the club. When they’re not playing for the club, they’re just short of match practice.”

On Wembley Stadium:

“They [the FA] stupidly spent £870 million on Wembley, so they’re still paying that debt off. They completely rebuilt it. If they’d built it anywhere else, it would have cost about £400 million. They completely floored it and then rebuilt the new stadium which is fabulous, but that sort of debt is not really what you want. Most of the money the FA make will go to the interest on the debt.”

On the gambling habits of current or former senior England players:

"[A club owner] bailed [a player] out twice. That’s players for you, dealing with the boredom, see. It were worse in our time … we gambled more in our time than they do now. We played cards, played cards all the way back [from away matches] … you’d do your wages in.”

On the Football Association:

“They’re all about making money aren’t they? You know the FA’s the richest football association in the world? Well, I shouldn’t say that. They’re not the richest at all. What they do is they have the biggest turnover in the world with £325 million.”

On the Duke of Cambridge failing to appear at the launch of the Euro 2020 football tournament:

“The only one that never turned up was Prince William. He’s our ambassador for the Football Association, so it would have been nice if he’d have turned up but he obviously had more, much busier things on.”

On Prince Harry:

“Harry’s a naughty boy. He’s a very naughty boy, very naughty. He shows his bottom and all sorts.”

• Reconstruction: How Sam Allardyce tried to make as much money as possible as England manager - before his first match
• What he said about the football world: Allardyce mocks Hodgson

 

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better not have done anything dodgy in charge of us.

 

Allegedly. I think the club knew full well.

 

Embarrassing for Allardyce on a personal level and depending what comes out of it he could lose his job. All in all a bad day for the guy.

 

If Big Sam has said what he was supposed to have said it would be difficult to see how he could the England job. Now that would put the cat amongst the pigeons lol. Must admit though I thought he was our best manager and hope for a long time...

 

We'll see. They won't be happy that's for sure.

 

Listening to the tapes he gave answers and comments to questions put to him about where Roy went wrong and he gave an opinion. He was justifiably critical but also said he had 100% record in the qualifiers so it is the usual journo "trap". but who was it really for and when did they decide to bring him in? Getting the England job would be manna from heaven for them or was it Sam the man they were after? Summat and nowt as the old saying goes.

 

I think he's ****ed mind, the FA can't have anything like this damaging their 'product'.

I'd pie ginger for him like. Just saying.

 

Can't really see how he wouldn't be sacked for this.

 

. **** you Sam.

 

He looks like he might have talked himself out of his dream job here.

 

He will undoubtedly lose his job, he is meant to be the head of English football and he is seen taking the mickey out of Woy & Princes Harry and William!!!

 

P45 coming up.

What an idiot - his 'alleged' dodgy dealings history comes back to bite him on the arse.

 

Interesting stuff.

He's **** the bed there innit.

 

I'd love to see the full documentary/programme when it eventually all comes out. Then we can see the full picture.

Apart from that, he's dropped the ball here, big time.

 

Funny thing is... No one seems surprised. What a silly ****.

 

What a silly fool he seems to have made of himself.

Why risk your dream job for £400k when your already on, what, about £2m-£3m a year? He's almost certainly a multi-millionaire already.

Why is too much just not enough for these guys?

 

Hes on 4m a year on top of the millions hes already made.

Silly greedy man.