Southampton FC's Eric Black 'filmed offering bribe advice' in sting
Saints bosses vow to investigate the allegations made after a Daily Telegraph reporters posed as Far East businessmen
Friday 30 September 2016 08:43, UK
Premier League side Southampton has said it will work closely with authorities after it was claimed assistant manager Eric Black offered undercover reporters advice on how to bribe officials.
The Daily Telegraph has released footage which it claims shows Black discussing how staff at other clubs could be induced to pass on information about players for money.
The club issued a statement saying they had been made aware on Thursday that manager Claude Puel's number two would feature in an article on Friday as part of the paper's ongoing investigation into alleged corruption in football.
Saints bosses said they had requested to be sent details of the story, but that the Telegraph had not shared any information.
"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," a club spokesman said.
"Southampton Football Club is fully committed to investigating any situation that directly or indirectly relates to our club, employees or the wider community."
The meeting between Black and the reporters, who claimed to be representatives of a Far East company looking to invest in English football, was reportedly arranged by Scott McGarvey, the football agent who set up the meeting that led to the the end of Sam Allardyce's England tenure.
A spokesman for Black said: "(Mr Black) does not recall Mr McGarvey making suggestions that football officials should be paid during transfer negotiations - this was not the purpose of the meeting so far as our client understood it.
"Any suggestion that he was complicit in such discussions is false."
Allardyce was been filmed apparently trying to broker a £400,000 deal and telling businessmen how to evade strict rules on third-party ownership - a practice banned by FIFA since May 2015.
The 61-year-old apologised, saying he was "extremely sorry" and was leaving the country to reflect on his "huge error of judgement".
On Thursday, Barnsley sacked assistant head coach Tommy Wright following claims he took a £5,000 bung to help place players at his club.
It is alleged he accepted the money during a series of meetings with reporters posing as Far East businessmen in which he agreed to help sign players part-owned by them.
Wright, 50, has denied any wrongdoing.