Hours after Sam Allardyce was sacked as England manager for inappropriate conduct, the Football Association has been hit by a new crisis.
Eight current and former Premier League managers have been accused of receiving payments for player transfers after a long-running investigation by The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
England manager Sam Allardyce Photo: Photosport
The British newspaper said it had agreed to hand over its findings to the FA and the police after its undercover reporters discovered "widespread evidence of corruption in the English game" by filming football agents boasting about how many managers they had paid off.
The revelation comes 24 hours after Allardyce was shown negotiating a deal worth $800 thousand to represent a firm seeking advice on the transfer market.
He claimed he could help the firm circumnavigate FA and FIFA rules banning transfers involving third-party ownership.
That meeting led to the 61-year-old losing his job after only 67 days and one match in charge.
The Telegraph outlined other corruption allegations without disclosing any names.
All of the individuals were contacted and denied any wrongdoing, the newspaper said.
The allegations included player agents naming "a total of eight current or recent Premier League managers who they said were known for taking 'bungs' (illicit payments) including five they said they had personally paid off".
It also said that two managers of Championship (second tier) clubs had also accepted illicit payments, while another manager was known to demand kickbacks from his own players for increasing their wages, the newspaper said.
The newspaper also detailed how the money was transferred with the payments being routed through a third party via a "consultancy agreement with somebody who he trusts".
-Reuters
