The English football authorities have insisted they will investigate corruption in the game which they say will be “investigated with the full force of the rules at our disposal”.
The Football Association, the Premier League and the Football League have taken the unusual step of releasing a joint statement in response to this week’s allegations that have already seen Sam Allardyce lose his job as England boss – and threaten to implicate many more figures within the game.
The statement released on Wednesday night read:
The @premierleague, The @FA and the @EFL have issued a joint statement pic.twitter.com/wJ6eAjBKFT
— Premier League Communications (@PLComms) September 28, 2016
It comes after an extraordinary week in top level football when the Telegraph newspaper published allegations that Allardyce had discussed bypassing the FA’s third party ownership rules.
As part of an undercover investigation, the Telegraph also published video footage that appeared to show Allardyce criticising his predecessor Roy Hodgson, and former England coach Gary Neville.
After the allegations came to light on Monday night, Allardyce left his position as England boss on Tuesday – after just 68 days in the job.
Also on Tuesday, the Telegraph published further allegations – including the shocking claim from a number of football agents that as many as eight current or former Premier League managers had accepted bungs – illegal payments as part of player transfers.
The newspaper has conducted a 10 month investigation into corruption in football, and is expected to publish more allegations over the coming days.
