Holloway on Bung allegetion Not News & FA Charge re Stoke...Agent Talks Legal Action...Newell on Managers' Silence

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The Times - January 21, 2006

Holloway: forget the bungs, what about our fight charge?By Ashling O'Connor

WHEN Ian Holloway and Mike Newell shake hands today before kick-off between Queens Park Rangers and Luton Town, they will be sharing more than just a mid-table Coca-Cola Championship fixture. Aside from the referee, the managers will be in the spotlight in their respective dugouts for being whistleblowers.
After a week during which Newell went to the FA to dish the dirt on the agents and rival club officials he said had offered him bungs, Holloway was the first of his peers to back him up publicly with the allegation that he was offered £30,000 as an incentive to sign a player.
It is not a new story, however, and if the FA had wanted to take action before now, it needed only to have consulted press cuttings, QPR fanzines and the BBC’s documentary archives.
The alleged incident happened in July 2002, when Holloway signed Gino Padula, an Argentinian, from Jerez, the Spanish club, on a free transfer and was told that his club would have to pay £50,000 to the player’s agent to complete the deal. The suggestion was that the QPR manager would get a £30,000 cut of the money. He rejected the offer and reported it to Nick Blackburn, his chairman at the time. Like Newell, Holloway did not record any conversations.
Paul Taylor, the agent who recommended Padula to QPR, has denied any wrongdoing after being named in newspapers and has instructed his solicitors to defend his name. “People in the game who know my reputation know that it is not true,” he said.
The FA said yesterday that it would contact Holloway, who said that agents are queueing up with “whacking great wheelbarrows” to “fill up with money” for more information. Compliance officers have contacted Blackburn, who said that he would happily repeat a story he has told many times before.
Newell, who met FA officials on Wednesday, was grateful for the support but remains to be convinced what outcome, if any, will come from his meeting. “I don’t know whether they were surprised at what I told them, but I reckon they have boxes and boxes of files on this sort of thing,” he said. “As I have always said, the laws (governing agents) need changing.”
Holloway is also willing to tell the FA his story but appears more anxious to talk to them about the disciplinary proceedings hanging over his club. “Somebody has pulled this bung stuff out of a fanzine from four years ago,” he told The Times. “I would be very interested to talk to the FA, but more about two or three different things. Like what happened at Stoke City when my team were attacked and we are the ones being charged with failing to control our players.”
This month, the FA charged QPR for failing to control their players after a brawl at the Britannia Stadium on December 3. Fans were arrested after they attacked Simon Royce, the QPR goalkeeper. The situation escalated to a football disciplinary matter after players from both teams ran over to assist Royce but then appeared to fight among themselves. The FA also charged Jake Cole, the QPR substitute goalkeeper, with violent conduct for his involvement.
The parties have until Wednesday to respond to the charges. Holloway has just done so, branding the FA action “a total disgrace”.
At least Brian Barwick, the FA chief executive, will not be able to ignore Holloway’s calls now that the QPR manager is a witness in the FA’s bung inquiry. An FA spokesman said: “We will be contacting Ian Holloway to request a meeting. We take these matters very seriously and our compliance department will thoroughly investigate any evidence of wrongdoing or breaches of regulation.”
As the transfer crossed international borders, the matter is expected to fall under Fifa’s jurisdiction, raising the prospect of a repeat of the ping-pong manner in which the investigation into Harry Kewell’s transfer from Leeds United to Liverpool in July 2003 has been treated.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,435-2002537,00.html


TELEGRAPH
TelegraphNewell back on offensive By Amar Azam (Filed: 21/01/2006)

Luton Town manager Mike Newell yesterday called on more managers to follow Ian Holloway's example after the Queens Park Rangers manager named an agent who had offered him a transfer bung.
Holloway revealed that Paul Taylor had offered him a £30,000 backhander as part of a free transfer deal to sign Argentine left-back Gino Padula from Spanish club Jerez. And Newell, who rocked the sport with his claims about agents last week, said: "I have had no regrets about expressing my opinion and it's nice that there has eventually been support. You have to ask yourself why more managers haven't come out."
Newell met the Football Association on Wednesday to discuss claims that he had been offered illegal transfer payments, and says that he is pleased by the reaction from the FA's Compliance Board.
"I got the impression that they shared the same frustration as me," he said. "It's now in their hands."
Newell's comments have infuriated the Football Agents Association, who have threatened to take him to court.
Newell responded: "Football can survive without agents. Agents would have you believe that they are part of the game but they are wrong." He added: "I have had an amazing amount of letters and emails from supporters, and they are the only group who aren't split on it. I hope we get new laws and regulations stopping people from printing money."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;jsessionid=C4GG4V2KHYS1XQFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/sport/2006/01/21/sfnbun21.xml&sSheet=/sport/2006/01/21/ixfooty.html