Southampton assistant Black named in newspaper probe

LONDON (Reuters) - Southampton have vowed to work closely with the FA and Premier League after the club's assistant manager Eric Black was named in the newspaper investigation that has seen England manager Sam Allardyce and Barnsley assistant Tommy Wright lose their jobs.

Southampton assistant Black named in newspaper probe

(Reuters)

The Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday that Black, 52, met a bogus representative of a Far East firm on Sept. 2 at a hotel in Hampshire who said he was interested in English football's billion-pound transfer market.

Black told the newspaper on Thursday that he denied making any suggestion to their undercover reporters that football officials should be paid during transfer negotiations.

After being made aware that Black would feature in the Telegraph article, the club issued a statement on their website (southamptonfc.com) saying: "We have today contacted The FA and The Premier League, and intend to work closely with both bodies on this matter when the facts become clear.

"Southampton Football Club is fully committed to investigating any situation that directly or indirectly relates to our club, employees or the wider community."

Black, who was on the Southampton bench for their Europa League group game against Hapoel Beer-Sheva in Israel on Thursday, joined the south-coast club as an assistant to their new French manager Claude Puel on June 30.

Allardyce lost the England job on Tuesday after the FA said he had behaved inappropriately following secret filming that showed him offering advice to businessmen on how to "get around" rules on player transfers.

English second-tier club Barnsley sacked assistant head coach Tommy Wright on Thursday after allegations in the Telegraph that he accepted a cash "bung" of 5,000 pounds ($6,484.00). Wright denied any wrongdoing.

The Telegraph said its secret filming showed Wright accepting the bung after agreeing to help a fake Far Eastern firm which wanted to profit from transfers.

($1 = 0.7711 pounds)

(Writing by Ken Ferris; Editing by Mitch Phillips)


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world