England boss Sam Allardyce has told friends he thinks he will be sacked as England manager following allegations that he used his role to negotiate a £400,000 deal and offer advice on how to “get around” rules on player transfers.
The former Sunderland boss has only been in the job two months but has already hit his first off-the-field hiccup. The Telegraph has released footage of Allardyce meeting men claiming to represent a Far East firm in which he appears to say third-party ownership rules can be avoided.
The FA will meet this morning to decide whether the issue is one of poor judgement or something more serious.
Chairman Greg Clarke told the Daily Mail: “I want all the facts, to hear everything from everyone and make a judgement about what to do.
“Natural justice requires us to get to the bottom of the issues before we make any decision. It is not appropriate to pre-judge the issue. With things like this you have to take a deep breath.”
What are Third Party Ownership Rules?
Think Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.
Remember the debacle when the Argentinians first signed for West Ham? Well that has become commonplace today, and despite the FA clamping down on it there are ways around it. As Allardyce knows too well.
Third party ownership is when a third party, such as a company or an agent, owns all or part of the financial rights to a player. So that third party, rather than a football club, benefits from transfer fees every time the player is sold.
The Premier League ruled that the Tevez and Mascherano case was in breach of existing rules banning third parties from having influence over the transfers of players. Gianni Infantino, now the Fifa president, said it was unacceptable for companies to “trade” economic rights to people.
A global ban on third party ownership of players followed in 2015, but like all legal barriers there are often loopholes, such as the ones being discussed by Allardyce on video. Agents have bought shares in a club to get dividends from loans they make out. There is also allegations of bribes and cases of managers becoming ambassadors to these firms.