Southampton assistant manager Eric Black is the latest football figure to be accused of wrongdoing following investigations by the Daily Telegraph.
They have footage of Black telling their undercover reporters that they could pay an assistant manager at a Championship club a bribe to receive information about his players.
Eric Black, assistant manager at Southampton FC, filmed advising 'businessmen' how to bribe lower league staff https://t.co/g3lo1CWKFz pic.twitter.com/L3amgHFI0y
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) September 29, 2016
Black, who has previously been caretaker manager at Aston Villa, suggested that “a couple of grand” would be enough to persuade an official at another club to give them information about players to potential agents.
Naming the assistant manager of a Championship club, he said “it doesn’t take too much to get these people involved” because “they won’t have an awful lot of money”.
Black met an undercover Telegraph reporter along __with his friend Scott McGarvey, who was also present at meetings __with Sam Allardyce that have cost him the England job after just one match.
When asked for advice about representing players, Mr Black said: “You say, ‘look, we’ve set up the company, we want to go big, you build up the whole thing and you would do brilliantly, then, y’know, if you get somebody, we’ll give you a couple of grand or something…’”
On Thursday night a spokesman for Mr 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.”
Southampton issued a statement on Thursday night saying: “Southampton Football Club has today been made aware by The Daily Telegraph that, as part of their ongoing investigation, the club’s assistant first team manager Eric Black will feature as part of an article in tomorrow’s paper.
“The club immediately requested to be sent, by The Daily Telegraph, the details of this article, but the newspaper declined to share any further 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.
“Southampton Football Club is fully committed to investigating any situation that directly or indirectly relates to our club, employees or the wider community.”