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Friday, January 20, 2006

Mirror Reveals....Holloway says offered 'Bung' for Gino Padula

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Mirror 20 January 2006 By John Cross
Bungs The Evidence

"....Ian Holloway was offered a £30,000 backhander as part of a "free" transfer which took Argentinian leftback Gino Padula from Spanish Second Division club Jerez to Loftus Road.
Paul Taylor, who works with his son Mark in sports consultancy firm PSC Ltd, is alleged to have demanded £50,000 to make the deal happen - with £30,000 going to Holloway.
Holloway declined the offer and there is no question that he or the player acted improperly.
Taylor last night denied any wrongdoing but confirmed that he had recommended Padula to QPR - even though the defender had played under Holloway at Bristol Rovers.
Former QPR chairman Nick Blackburn last night admitted he was "sickened" by the events and confirmed that Holloway rejected the backhander - while the club ended up paying a £4,000 fee for the deal to go ahead on July 3, 2002.
That transfer is the first alleged bung to be publicly named since the George Graham scandal rocked football in 1995. Just a week after Luton boss Mike Newell reopened the debate about the way transfers are conducted, Holloway has put football back in the dock and will force the FA to extend their investigation.
Holloway said: "It was some time ago and I thought I was getting this player on a free transfer. His agent then came back to me and said 'my fee is this amount and you will get that from it'. "I went back to the board and said 'You must be joking'. I earn my money through my contract, not any other way. I've got nothing to hide.
"There are agents out there with whacking great wheelbarrows who say 'fill that up with money'."
Holloway reported the bung offer to Blackburn and former club chief executive David Davies, who now runs Wasps rugby club.
Davies said: "I can say 100 per cent that the agent concerned was Paul Taylor and I will confirm that. But where will it go from here?" ....
Holloway claimed there are agents who are willing to offer "bucketloads" for a deal.
Blackburn - who left the club in 2004 - backed up Holloway's story. He said: "Ian called me and said the agent of the player we were interested in wanted £50,000 - and Olly (Holloway) was going to get £30,000 of it. "I said the agent must be f***ing stupid. We didn't think the player in question was worth £50,000, never mind that amount for his agent. "In the end we settled on a £4,000 handling fee."
The FA will interview Holloway as part of their probe. Holloway added: "I didn't anticipate getting an offer and I can't prove it. I didn't record it and no agents are going to stand up and say 'Yeah, I do that'. Fair play to Mike Newell, but I'm not surprised nobody is going to support him. I don't think Mike's a liar. I think he's very frustrated."
Paul Taylor last night told Mirror Sport: "Ian knew about Gino from his time at Bristol Rovers but I recommended him as I knew him from my time as general manager at Walsall.
"It's a crazy thing and I don't want to comment further. It's not true, that's for sure."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16605913&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=bungs-the-evidence--name_page.html

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