Eric Black has been captured on video suggesting to undercover reporters that ‘a couple of grand’ might persuade a colleague to pass on information about players.
The claim is not quite in the same category as Sam Allardyce’s resignation but is a clear breach of Football Association rules which bans any payments of this nature.
Southampton were made aware of the allegations yesterday and chose to issue a statement highlighting the fact that the Daily Telegraph wouldn’t provide them with details of the claim ahead of publication.
According to the report after naming an assistant manager as an English Championship side Black said: “it doesn’t take too much to get these people involved” because “they won’t have an awful lot of money”.
The whole bung culture in football seems very similar to the MP’s expenses situation which was also exposed by the Telegraph.
With shadowy agents able to claim £100,000 or more from club’s for a fairly routine transfer deal it’s naïve to believe that managers and coaches at the heart of transfers aren’t offered incentives to make sure that deals go through.
In the Premier League it is unlikely that any agent would receive less than £1m commission on a transfer where a player is assured of £40,000 a week for three seasons at the lower end of the scale.
Prompting the story last night Southampton stated: “Southampton Football Club has today been made aware by The Daily Telegraph that, as part of their on-going investigation, the club’s Assistant First Team Manager Eric Black will feature as part of an article in tomorrow’s paper.
“The club immediately requested to be sent, by The Daily Telegraph, the details of this article, but the newspaper declined to share any further information.
“We have today contacted The FA and The Premier League, and intend to work closely with both bodies on this matter when the facts become clear.
“Southampton Football Club is fully committed to investigating any situation that directly or indirectly relates to our club, employees or the wider community.”
