Allardyce '˜resigns as England manager'

england manager Sam Allardyce has resigned after just 67 days in charge, it was reported.
Sam AllardyceSam Allardyce
Sam Allardyce

Allardyce held showdown talks at Wembley with Football Association chiefs after it emerged he used his new position to negotiate a £400,000 deal with businessmen and offered them advice on how to get around FA transfer rules.

Transcripts from a newspaper investigation into alleged football corruption in which England manager Sam Allardyce was targeted by undercover reporters were due to be released to the Football Association.

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Allardyce was covertly filmed in an investigation by The Daily Telegraph at two meetings he believed were with representatives of a Far East firm.

A spokesman for the newspaper has revealed it will release to the FA the “relevant transcripts” from its probe.

Allardyce appeared to tell reporters, who were wearing hidden cameras, that it was “not a problem” getting around FA rules which stop third parties “owning” football players’ economic rights.

A spokesman for The Daily Telegraph said: “These run to many hundreds of pages so will take some time to collate.

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“In line with our investigations protocol, some material has already been passed to the police.”

Here is a transcript of the clips released by the Daily Telegraph:

:: First meeting

Allardyce’s agent: “Is that third party ownership a problem though?”

Sam Allardyce: “It’s not a problem.”

Telegraph reporter: “Yeah, well, I mean there are, there are ways...”

SA: “It’s not a problem.”

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Reporter: “...there are ways around that, as I understand it, or ways through that.”

SA: “(inaudible) and er (inaudible) they’ve been doing it for years.”

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SA: “You can still get around it. Obviously the big money is here.”

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SA: “What they would be better doing is, making sure they’ve got the ownership and the agent. So they own the agent, the agent works for them, as well. ‘Cause then the agent, if he gets sold on again, the agent will get more money if he gets sold on again.”

BREAK

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SA: “You get a percentage of the player’s agent’s fee, that the agent pays to you, the company, because he’s done that new deal at that club again, or, they sell him on and you’re not getting a part of the transfer fee any more, ‘cause you can’t do that. But ... but you get - because of the size of the contracts now, the contract’ll be worth 30, 40 million, at 10%.”

His agent: “Yes, I understand that.”

SA: “And you get, you get, you’ve done a deal with the agent where you’re getting 5% of the agent’s fee. Which is massive for doing about two hours work, like.”

BREAK

Allardyce’s financial adviser: “But you’re, you’re setting up a fund to buy the economic rights, effectively, of these players?

Agent: “Third party ownership, yup.”

Reporter: “Certainly in the places where we can do that, yeah.”

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SA: “Third party ownership is only banned in this country because, because we have...”

Financial adviser: “And France, and France.”

SA: “And France yeah.”

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SA: “You can still get around it.”

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Financial adviser: “And the fees will be sensible?”

Allardyce’s agent: “I would have though £100,000 a time.”

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SA (to reporter): “Your guys set the agenda out of what it would look like. Me flying out on - on a day ... landing in Hong Kong or Singapore, staying in this hotel, meeting these people, doing that keynote speech, travelling back either two days later or one day later.”

:: Second meeting

Unnamed agent: “What the player?”

SA: “No.”

Agent: “You wouldn’t give him anything?”

SA: “No.”

Agent: “Would you not?”

SA: “The player?”

Agent: “Well, if he’s recommending a player - if he says to him...”

SA: “Oh, oh, you’re not, do not, I haven’t heard that...”

Agent: “No, you’re right.”

SA: “I haven’t heard that, you stupid man.”

(laughter)

SA: “What are you talking about? You idiot.”

Reporter: “Yeah, it would never happen.”

SA: “You can have that conversation when I’m not here.”

BREAK

SA (to the agent): “Yeah but you slipped up tonight.”

Agent: “Once.”

SA: “You can’t go there any more.”

Agent: “What’s that?”

SA: “You can’t pay a player, you can’t pay a manager, you can’t pay a CEO. It used to happen 20-odd years ago, 30 years ago...”

Agent: “No, no.”

SA: “You can’t do it now, you can’t do it now, don’t ever go there.”