Football
ESPN staff 8y

Sam Allardyce filmed advising on how to evade transfer rules - report

England manager Sam Allardyce has been filmed advising undercover journalists on how to circumvent rules against third-party ownership, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Video accompanying the report shows Allardyce meeting twice with journalists posing as representatives of a Far East agency who were interested in bypassing rules from the Football Association and FIFA that prohibit third-party ownership.

"You can still get around it. I mean obviously the big money's here," Allardyce, who has overseen one match -- a 1-0 win over Slovakia -- as England manager, said on the video, while also calling the regulations "ridiculous."

The Times reports that Allardyce now faces the sack following the undercover report, with England under-21 manager Gareth Southgate in line to take over as caretaker boss for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia on Oct. 8 and 11 respectively.

Third-party ownership, where investors purchase a players' rights early in his career in exchange for portions of future transfer fees, has been common practice in South America but was banned in England in 2008, and FIFA followed in 2015.

If allowed, the investors could profit each time a player was sold, thereby providing an incentive to push the player to change teams as often as possible.

The Daily Telegraph report says Allardyce, who was named England manager weeks before the meetings, was negotiating a deal worth £400,000 to travel to Singapore and Hong Kong as a consultant on how to evade those rules.

An FA spokesperson told the newspaper: "We have asked The Daily Telegraph to provide us with the full facts in relation to this matter."

Press Association Sport reported the FA "is awaiting further information" before choosing a course of action.

FA chairman Greg Clarke told The Times: "I got a call related to the issue and I want the facts and I will look into it -- it is not appropriate to pre-judge the issue. With things like this you have to take a deep breath and have all the facts and hear everything from everyone.

"Then you can make a judgement about what to do and that's what we will do. Natural justice requires us to get the bottom of these issues before we make any decision."

Despite his willingness to speak about breaking FA rules, Allardyce grew silent when the topic turned to bribing individuals involved with transfers. The manager was previously implicated in a 2006 BBC report that suggested he took bribes connected to transfers.

The 61-year-old said bribery in transfers is no longer a common practice and immediately tried to end that discussion.

Allardyce was also captured making light of his predecessor Roy Hodgson and Gary Neville, who guided England's disappointing showing at Euro 2016. In Allardyce's opinion, Hodgson was too indecisive and easily influenced by his assistant Neville.

"They were arguing for 10 minutes about bringing [Marcus Rashford] on [against Iceland], him and Gary Neville. So Gary was the wrong influence for him," Allardyce said. "F------ tell Gary to sit down and shut up, so you can do what you want. You're the manager, you do what you want."

^ Back to Top ^