ALL this talk of "bungs" is probably very important to football. But when is it going to get interesting?

I'm looking forward to hearing the result of the investigation. But the process of reaching it is tedious and not worth a fraction of the media coverage it is receiving.

An obscene amount of newspaper space and television time has been devoted to the subject this week without much happening.

So far the story seems to be a stats-fest organised by journalists who are having a bet to see how many numbers they can cram into one report - 362 transfer deals, 323 being clean, 39 potentially dodgy ones involving eight clubs over a two-year period, 17 clubs in the clear, 150 agents contacted and 65 of them having replied.

Anorak fans are in heaven. As far as I'm concerned, don't wake me up until there are smoking pistols and managers lying on the saloon floor with reputations and careers in tatters.

That will come in December, unless one of two things happen.

Either everyone in football is straight - no, please, don't laugh - or, and far more likely, various football people, clubs and agents will make life so difficult for Lord Stevens' team that they will run out of time to complete their investigation and the criminals will get away with it.

Obviously, we want to cleanse the game of any scum who have been stealing money and abusing our beautiful game.

But, whatever happens in this investigation, it won't make much difference to what happens on the pitch, which is what most fans are really interested in.

Far more horrible than millionaires ripping off billionaires was Didier Zokora ripping off the paying public with a blatant dive for Spurs against Portsmouth last Sunday.

And, even worse than this cheat's behaviour, was his manager's pathetic attempt to back his player.

Martin Jol insulted the intelligence of fans and destroyed his own credibility when he argued Zokora was off balance and said he believed his player did not mean to dive.

That's as good as giving Zokora the all-clear to do it again when he should have been fining his player a month's wages for being a sporting disgrace.

The only way football will get rid of cheating is if managers, like Jol, stop condoning it.

I've yet to see a club boss complain about a penalty one of his players has won by diving and they never will because they want to win at all costs.

This is a crime against the fans and must be stopped by changing the ridiculous rule which says diving cheats cannot be punished retrospectively.

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