Southampton Assistant Manager Under Fire as Bribery Scandal Grows
A Southampton assistant manager was named by The Telegraph Thursday as being involved in a wide-ranging bribery scandal permeating English football.
Assistant Manager Eric Black, who has worked with Southampton since joining with Claude Puel this summer, is the latest casualty of the Telegraph’s ongoing investigation into corruption in English football.
Black, 52, was reportedly filmed in an undercover video offering advice to a reporter posing as a business agent, regarding bribes to third-party holding companies for player rights.
It would take “a couple grand” to convince colleagues at a lower-tier side to pass player information to such companies, Black reportedly said. “It doesn’t take too much…they won’t have an awful lot of money,” he advised the reporter in reference to his colleague, whose name has not been revealed.
Southampton’s Eric Black is the latest in a long string of casualties that have followed in the days since damning evidence against England boss Sam Allardyce forced his resignation from the Three Lions. Allardyce was earlier filmed in a similar sting offering officials posing as agents advice on how to contract a third-party contract.
Third-party contracts, in which ownership rights to a player are partially retained by a holding corporation who then collect fees on player transfers, are forbidden by the FA. Club officials who become aware of such arrangements are required under FA regulations to immediately report them to the FA.
Reacting to the implication of Eric Black, Southampton Chairman Ralph Krueger released a brief statement saying he was “shocked and shuddered” by the allegations and pledging to lead the way in auditing his club for any wrongdoing. Southampton had earlier released a statement, prior to the article’s publishing, stating that prior requests to the Telegraph to view the allegations in advance were denied.
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“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,” the club statement read.
“Southampton Football Club is fully committed to investigating any situation that directly or indirectly relates to our club, employees or the wider community.”
The Telegraph claim to have evidence relating to ten current or former managers who they allege were involved in bribe-taking to fix player transfers. So far, Barnsley assistant Tommy Wright has joined Allardyce among the implicated and sacked. Wright was caught taking a £5,000 bribe during an undercover sting meeting.
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With presumably more news to come, Saints fans will be holding their breath in hopes that no additional Southampton staff are among the implicated. At the same time, the sense of corruption and disgust must surely be palpable. One hopes the FA takes swift action to clean up its act lest it become a redux of the wave of FIFA scandals of late.
Given the scope of this development, though, it looks set to be a very, very stormy winter in the world of English football.