Greed, stupidity and corruption are lurking in the shadows of some of England’s football stadiums as the dark underbelly of bungs and transfer fixes pulls down managers and agents who should know better.
First in the firing line was England national team manager Sam Allardyce.
Allardyce, 61, resigned from his self-confessed dream job after he was set-up by undercover journalists who offered him £400,000 for a speaking engagement in the Far East.
Foolishly for a man who should know better, a loose lipped Allardyce went on to brag about how he could work around transfer rules and ridiculed his predecessor Roy Hodgson on video.
Next in the revolving door was Championship club Barnsley’s assistant manager Tommy Wright.
Sacked over £5,000 bung
He was caught on filming taking a £5,000 cash bung for arranging for his club to take players on transfer offered by the undercover journalists.
The Daily Telegraph claims to have at least eight more leading football figures on tape plumbing the murky depths of corruption and agreeing to accept cash.
In each case, the allegation is the football manager or agent broke English Football Association transfer rules and brought the reputation of the game into disrepute.
The most astonishing result of the expose is not that bribery and corruption is rife in English football, but that not more has come to light.
With billions of pounds of TV money swilling around the clubs, there are bound to be dodgy dealers trying to swipe an unfair share for pulling strings behind the scenes.
Managers under microscope
Snooty English FA figures often look down their noses at crooks overseas.
The FA spoke out against FIFA president Sepp Blatter and his corrupt ways. That also brought down EUFA leading light Michel Platini and it looks like German darling Franz Beckenbauer is likely to follow.
But now, the English football system is under the microscope and as much skulduggery is revealed when a stone is turned as in any other country.
Like the old saying says, where there’s muck there’s brass, only to paraphrase for football, where there’s brass, there’s plenty of muck.