Dokko Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Allardyce faces having to explain deals in court http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=462504&in_page_id=1779&ito=newsnow Tension at Newcastle as pressure mounts on new boss Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce’s past transfer dealings will come under further scrutiny on two fronts as the fall-out from the Stevens Inquiry continues to overshadow preparations for his first season at the club. There is understood to be growing unease at St James’ Park about the bad publicity surrounding the former Bolton manager, who has been handed a £3 million-a-year salary and generous transfer budget to revive the club’s fortunes. The latest developments came within 24 hours of Lord Stevens unveiling the controversial findings of his Quest team’s £1.3m probe into Premier League transfers, which made public 16 deals involving five clubs that remain under suspicion and named 15 agents and three managers worthy of more investigation. Investigations into a 17th deal are so sensitive that it has not been identified. With Graeme Souness out of football and the reasons for concern about Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp remaining unspecified beyond his alleged ownership of a bad horse, Allardyce is the figure most damaged by the revelations. Quest’s report recommended further inquiries into the apparent conflict of interest which existed when Allardyce’s son, Craig, was involved in transfers at Bolton, and it is understood solicitors for Allardyce are considering a request for their client to be re-interviewed about up to four deals, involving Julio Correa, Ali Al-Habsi, Blessing Kaku and Tal Ben Haim. And now Allardyce also faces having to explain in court how Bolton came to sign Israel international Idan Tal last year. Unlicensed Israeli agent David Abou has launched legal action against Craig Allardyce in a bid to receive half the £135,000 commission he negotiated for himself from Tal’s free transfer. It was Abou, through The Mail On Sunday, who revealed how he had acted for Ben Haim, Kaku and Tal in breach of FIFA rules forbidding unlicensed agents from being involved in transfer negotiations, and who then provided Quest and the FA with documentary evidence to support his claims. Abou said that he and Craig, then a licensed agent, received secret payments from another licensed agent, Jamie Hart, after the Ben Haim and Kaku deals in 2004 which fall within Quest’s remit. Abou also claimed that when he acted for Tal in last year’s transfer, Craig agreed to split his £135,000 commission with him. But having never received what he says is his rightful share, Abou has now launched legal action to obtain it and to recover from Bolton the $1,194.50 he spent on his credit card to buy plane tickets for himself and Tal to fly to England on March 5, 2006. Top sports lawyer Mel Goldberg, of Max Bitel, Greene, who is representing Abou, confirmed "letters before action" had been sent out to Craig Allardyce and Bolton. Goldberg said: "If we do not receive a satisfactory response, legal proceedings will be issued." Allardyce Snr, who is aware of the development, would be a key witness if the case against his son reached court. Abou, who will be in court in Tel Aviv tomorrow for the start of a separate case against Tal Ben Haim, also wants to prevent Bolton paying any further instalments of Craig Allardyce’s commission. The £135,000 corresponds to the agent’s traditional 10 per cent of Tal’s three-year, £8,500-per-week basic contract and the first instalment of £45,000 was paid in October last year. The next tranche of £45,000 is due in the coming weeks but there are signs Bolton are in no mood to do the Allardyce family any favours. Having backed Sam to the hilt while he was still at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton chairman Phil Gartside has apparently begun the process of distancing himself from his former manager, offering to provide Quest with the results of the club’s own internal investigation into how transfers were conducted. As a member of the FA Board, Gartside has his own future to consider and his comments in the wake of the publication of Quest’s report could hardly have been more pointed. "I’m glad that we found that every person who continues to work at this club has been totally exonerated by our inquiry," he said. "I don’t believe it’s my job to talk about individuals working for other clubs." Lord Stevens’ report pulled no such punches, as Allardyce’s new employers are also painfully aware. Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd has already suffered the embarrassment of seeing one of his sons, Kenneth, named in the document, along with former manager Souness, as having provided evidence which contained inconsistencies. Just as at Bolton, four transfers involving Newcastle remain uncleared by Quest and it was hardly an auspicious week for billionaire Mike Ashley to move a decisive step closer to gaining full control of the club by taking his stake past the 75 per cent threshold for delisting the company. Sources indicate that Shepherd Snr, despite striking a deal with Ashley to stay on as chairman after selling his family’s 28 per cent holding for £37m, may not stick around much longer to support the manager he appointed. It is also understood that Allardyce would not have been the new owner’s first choice as manager and that the bad publicity about the Bolton transfers, on top of Ashley’s problems with his own company, Sports Direct, has not impressed him. If Allardyce thought his move to Newcastle would draw a line under the past and herald a glorious new chapter of his career, he was mistaken. The day after the fixture computer decreed his new team would begin next season with a match at the Reebok Stadium, the ghosts of Bolton, in the form of the Quest report, came back to haunt him in a potentially far more damaging way. And there is every sign that they will continue to do so for some time to come. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Same as above. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isegrim Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 So, it's first of all Craig A. who faces legal proceedings with Sam rather being a witness. Bit of a sensational story in an attempt to make at least something out of the very vague allegations in the report. I bet the Daily Mail is still a bit pissed off that their announced takeover didn't happen in January... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Luque Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Great... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Monkey Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 If it gets some of the dirt out of football, i hope the whole thing unearths any badness, regardless of which players/managers/clubs it affects. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=41665.0 tbh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fraser Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Or may have to appear as a witness in civil proceedings (depending upon how sensationalist you may want to be). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Invicta_Toon Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 so sensationalist it got posted twice Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Telegraph Should the BBC or ITV ever decide to replace EastEnders or Coronation Street with a new, football-centred soap, Newcastle United would provide the perfect setting. A place where the next crisis lurks, perpetually, just around the corner, relationships constantly fracture and managers come and go while success remains elusive, Newcastle is a scriptwriter's dream. Moreover, with countless millions having been squandered on a series of largely underwhelming signings down the years, it seemed depressingly fitting that the club loomed so large in Lord Stevens' report into the probity of football transfers. Graeme Souness and Sam Allardyce were two of only three managers named in the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner's report. Quest are worried primarily about the conflict of interest that they believe existed between Sam Allardyce, his former football-agent son, Craig, and Bolton Wanderers. The doubts about Souness relate to inconsistencies in the evidence provided to Quest by the former Newcastle manager and Kenneth Shepherd, son of the club's chairman, Freddy, regarding the parts they respectively played in negotiations ahead of the acquisition of Albert Luque, Jean Alain Boumsong, Emre and Amady Faye for a total of £24 million. advertisement Two years on, the £8 million Boumsong and £9.5 million Luque rank as among the worst buys in the club's history. Boumsong, an error-prone French international centre-half, swiftly turned into a comic figure after arriving from Rangers in January 2005. Curiously he had made just 28 appearances for the Glasgow team after joining them on a free transfer from Auxerre in August 2004. Mick Martin, editor of the Newcastle fanzine True Faith, yesterday mused: "How can a player go on a free transfer to Rangers and then to Newcastle for £8 million four months later? His performances for Newcastle were a bit of a joke. I think Kenny Shepherd and Graeme Souness have a lot of explaining to do." Kenneth Shepherd has recently proved an influential figure at St James' but with Newcastle in the process of being taken over by the reclusive Mike Ashley, a billionaire sports retail tycoon, his days pacing the corridors of power may be numbered. While Freddy Shepherd - who replaced Glenn Roeder with Allardyce just days before Ashley bought out previous owners, the Hall family, and has recently been seriously ill with pneumonia - hopes to stay on as a salaried chairman under the new regime, it has emerged that he has yet to meet Ashley and his future remains shrouded in uncertainty. Indeed there have been rumours that Ashley would like to hire David Dein, an old friend and the former Arsenal vice-chairman, to assume day-to-day control of the club. While such a scenario would surely spell bad news for Allardyce, a long-standing enemy of Dein, it is fair to suggest that he is already "under pressure" after leaked suggestions that Big Sam has just a year to "get things right". Small wonder Lorelle Shepherd, wife of Freddy, last week opined: "From a personal point of view I would rather my husband was not the chairman of Newcastle. I just think pain or pleasure, what do you want?" With their team trophyless in Europe since lifting the Fairs Cup in 1969 and without domestic silverware since winning the FA Cup in 1955, pain has certainly been the Toon Army's overriding sensation throughout recent decades. Allardyce has promised to end this drought courtesy of a 'cultural revolution' featuring the deployment of psychological profilers and cutting-edge sports scientist. But fans, who have seen Kieron Dyer, Lee Bowyer, Craig Bellamy, Titus Bramble et al become embroiled in assorted embarrassing off-field scrapes, could be forgiven for scepticism last week when he finally signed Joey Barton from Manchester City. The deal had been delayed by Barton's insistence that City paid him a £300,000 'loyalty bonus'. Considering that the midfielder was involved in a series of well-publicised and unsavoury incidents during his time at Eastlands, and is presently on police bail in connection with an alleged training-ground assault on his former team-mate Ousmane Dabo, City thought this demand a bit rich and, eventually, Newcastle were forced to stump up Barton's bonus by raising the £5.5 million fee initially agreed to £5.8 million. Perhaps tellingly, Barton's agent, Willie McKay, warranted several mentions in Stevens' report. Plus ca change? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Knightrider Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 The biggest crook out of all this is Lord Stevens, no club has been found guilty and nor has any manager, player or agent, just really weak links and hints which to be fair, anyone can "guess". I hear they have passed their report onto FIFA... oh the irony Shambles and it will all pass in a few weeks, we have nothing to worry about, the club have been cleared and so has our new manager. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Invicta_Toon Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 do you even know what Steven's remit was FFS? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syrette Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Is 'FFS' part of your signature now? Just I see it on the end of just about all of your posts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cajun Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Is 'FFS' part of your signature now? Just I see it on the end of just about all of your posts. Vicky seems to have woken up with a sore head today Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Invicta_Toon Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 I don't live anywhere near you jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 I don't get this "how can he cost nowt then £8m four months later" argument. If Chelsea decided they were going to try and sell Ballack last January, how much do you reckon he'd have cost? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 I don't get this "how can he cost nowt then £8m four months later" argument. If Chelsea decided they were going to try and sell Ballack last January, how much do you reckon he'd have cost? Ballack was and is a well-renowned top quality footballer, including before he went to Chelsea. Boumsong was nothing of the sort. I see your point, but £8m was just a bit too much. About £4m too much I reckon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Well Houllier bid £5m the year before his contract ran out, so logically when he has a longer contract, the fee will go up would it not? And at the time he was one of the most highly-rated defenders in Europe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Well Houllier bid £5m the year before his contract ran out, so logically when he has a longer contract, the fee will go up would it not? And at the time he was one of the most highly-rated defenders in Europe. Touché, but something around that price wouldn't have caught the eye so much imo. £8m made it stand out as a major transfer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cajun Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 I don't live anywhere near you jon Thank fuck. £8m for a french international centre back at his age isn't the craziest fee you will see in football! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChezGiven Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 So the Souness - Rangers thing is just a red herring then? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon55544 Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 I don't get this "how can he cost nowt then £8m four months later" argument. If Chelsea decided they were going to try and sell Ballack last January, how much do you reckon he'd have cost? Ballack was and is a well-renowned top quality footballer, including before he went to Chelsea. Boumsong was nothing of the sort. I see your point, but £8m was just a bit too much. About £4m too much I reckon. Yea i agree with that, Im suprised we got £4.8m back for Boumsong. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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