Football agents could be forced to reveal details of their bank accounts by the Premier League’s inquiry into allegations of corruption in football.
Former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens, who is leading the inquiry, said his team may use Football Association (FA) rules to force agents to open their accounts for inspection — after only 65 out of 150 cooperated with the investigation.
Lord Stevens looked into all 362 transfers that took place in the Premier League between January 1 2004 and January 31 2006 — and said on Monday that 39 of them involving eight clubs will be investigated further over the next two months.
Roughly half of those involve foreign transfers, and half are domestic transfers. The FA confirmed they have the right to request information from licensed agents’ bank accounts under their ”powers of inquiry” — and those who failed to do so risk a misconduct charge.
An FA spokesperson said: ”We have cooperated fully with the Stevens inquiry so far and will continue to do so. If we are asked to try to obtain information from agents under our powers of inquiry we will, of course, do so.”
The identities of the eight clubs involved, and the 39 transfers, are being kept secret — but if they are deemed to have involved illegal payments then Lord Stevens will pass details to the Premier League, FA and if necessary the police.
Lord Stevens told a news conference in London: ”We will do everything we possibly can to find out the truth, I promise that.”
Stevens will also be given all the evidence uncovered by the BBC’s Panorama programme in their undercover investigation into illegal payments.
Stevens also revealed that important information had been received from individuals who were prepared to go on the record, but also by anonymous tip-offs.
Sheffield United, Reading, Watford and Leeds have been cleared of further involvement in the investigation — because none of that quartet traded any players in the Premiership during the specified period of the inquiry.
Meanwhile Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor believes a permanent independent body to oversee transfers would have a positive influence on the game.
PFA chief Taylor said: ”On a confidential basis to an independent body, there is no reason why clubs and the people who have been involved in such transactions should not have to open up their books and bank accounts to make sure there is no impropriety.
”That has to be done better independently and with confidentially rather than being looked at by people from within the game.”
Stevens’s Premier League inquiry into transfer irregularities will prove the ”catalyst” that cleans up English football, according to expert observer Graham Bean.
Former Football Association compliance officer Bean told Sky Sports News: ”Irrespective of what this inquiry discovers in the next couple of months, I think it is a catalyst for the game.
”It will be the start of the clean-up of the game. From now onwards, the whole transfer system will end up being completely overhauled and will be monitored in a closer way.”
Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager who was featured in BBC Panorama’s recent probe into transfers, said of the Lord Stevens-led inquiry: ”It has needed to all come out in the open — and that is not a problem.
”Whatever happens, we’ll wait and see, but for me it is not a problem.” — Sapa-AFP