7:54am Wednesday 20th September 2006
By Staff Reporter
WANDERERS manager Sam Allardyce has insisted he will fight allegations by the BBC's Panorama programme that he has received illegal payments.
The programme claimed that Allardyce and his son Craig, a football agent, were given bungs to facilitate player transfers.
Speaking after Bolton's 3-1 Carling Cup win at Walsall last night, Allardyce said: "I'm aware of the situation.
"Because I haven't seen anything of the programme I need to have a look at that before I make any comment.
"But if there are things being said that are wrong about Sam Allardyce, believe you me, I will be fighting them."
The programme, "Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets", also made a number of other allegations of wrongdoing by several other figures in the game. All those named in the programme have issued statements to the BBC denying they have done anything wrong.
The Football Association have asked for any evidence uncovered by Panorama and will investigate "any possible breach of the rules".
The Premier League have asked for the BBC to make their evidence available to the inquiry into alleged transfer bungs in the Premier League, headed up by the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens, which is expected to publish its findings within weeks.
A Panorama spokesman said: "In undercover filming three different agents name Sam Allardyce. Two of them say that they have made illegal payments to Sam Allardyce personally."
Peter Harrison, an agent the programme claimed to be close to Allardyce, was secretly filmed saying that he bribed Sam by offering to pay his son Craig: He said: "If I say 'Listen Sam, I'll give Craig some money'... he'll say 'Yeah, okay, we'll do a deal."' Panorama also alleged that the signings of defender Tal Ben Haim, Hidetoshe Nakata and goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi, involved secret payments from agents to Craig Allardyce.
The programme claimed that it understood Craig Allardyce had received around £50,000 for the deal involving Ben Haim.
At the time Craig was contractually banned from doing any Bolton deals.
Craig Allardyce was secretly filmed talking to an undercover reporter. He said: "I'll get the player profile and I'll walk straight into the office and sit down with my dad. It's easy. it's easy."
He later said he was exaggerating his own importance to the undercover reporter in order to attract opportunities. He denied any wrongdoing in his Bolton deals or in his relationship with the club. He recently quit as a football agent.
Panorama also claimed that Bolton chairman Phil Gartside, who is a member of the Football Association Board, misled his own club's fans by complaining in the press in August, 2005 about an "illegal approach" to then captain Jay-Jay Okocha.
"In fact eight days earlier, Gartside had been in a room with the agent (Teni Yerima) that he was complaining about, negotiating to sell Okocha," said the programme.
Gartside was unavailable for comment last night as he is taking part in a charity walk to the base camp of Mount Everest.
The programme, also alleged that: Three agents named in the programme admitted giving bungs.
Newcastle assistant manager Kevin Bond admitted he would consider discussing receiving payments from agents.
Frank Arnesen, Chelsea's director of youth football, offered Middlesbrough 15-year-old England youth star Nathan Porritt £150,000 over three years to move clubs.
Liverpool also tried to tempt Porritt from Middlesbrough.
Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp was involved in 'tapping up' a player.
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