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Who are the eight Premier League managers implicated?

The Daily Telegraph stings will uncover a lot more than Allardyce

Sam Allardyce Leaves England Football Managers Position After Newspaper Allegations
 Sam Allardyce speaks to the media
Photo by Dave Thompson/Getty Images

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The Daily Telegraph carried out an elaborate piece of investigative journalism that resulted in the stepping down of England manager Sam Allardyce after just one game in charge, and the paper promises there will be more.

While Allardyce will walk away into the sunset bitterly complaining of entrapment, it appears that the sting operation carried out could reveal eight current and former Premier League managers, as well as two Championship managers, who have also apparently taken ‘bungs’ - per the Cambridge dictionary: “a payment made to someone to persuade them to do something, usually something dishonest” - for pushing through player transfers.

An assistant manager at a leading club who was filmed accepting a £5,000 cash payment from undercover reporters posing as representatives of a Far Eastern firm that wanted to invest in players. (Later confirmed as Tommy Wright, assistant manager at Barnsley - see below)

Undercover journalists posing as a Far East firm looking to invest in the Premier League secretly filmed conversations with three agents who spilled the beans on the practices of various clubs and managers.

The newspaper has forwarded all the documentary evidence from their operation on to the Football Association as well as the police.

Agents Pino Pagliara, Scott McGarvey and Dax Price revealed the names of multiple managers, but their identities will not be announced to the public until the investigation is complete.

However, from the descriptions given, these are the profiles of the managers involved.

Manager 1

Pagliara claimed a former top-flight boss liked "bungs" in cash or deposited in a Swiss bank account.

He even stated he could call the manager at any given time.

Manager 2

The Italian stated another ex-Premier League boss was now "whiter than white" - even though he had received a large amount of money in the past

Manager 3

The boss is said to have been in charge of a number of British clubs.

Pagliara claimed he had been fired by one of his former employers for having his "fingers in the till".

Manager 4

The agent claimed the manager had plenty of experience in the Premier League.

Pagliara suggests he knows the boss "very, very well" and the accused asked if there was a "little coffee for me" in the negotiations as his code word for a bung.

Manager 5

It is reported Pagliara would often pay into a Swiss bank account to another ex-top-flight boss.

He claims the manager would call him to give him a number to the account.

Manager 6

The manager, a former player, is said to not be on a big salary at his club.

Pagliara suggests he liked extra money to secure deals.

Manager 7

Another former Premier League boss who was allegedly "on the pay roll" with the agents.

It is suggested the manager would receive money for taking players.

Manager 8

A long-serving manager who would make his own players give him kickbacks in return for increasing their wages.

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As of Wednesday evening British time, the three names from Championship clubs have been released -

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On Thursday evening, another name was revealed on Twitter - Eric Black, an assistant manager at Southampton, who was formerly an assistant at Aston Villa and Sunderland. Black took command of Villa for the last seven games of the season - six of which they lost on their way to relegation from the Premier League.

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Friday night The Telegraph announced another name, and it was a big one too. The paper said that in an interview with their undercover reporters, Harry Redknapp had claimed awareness of his players betting on their own game, but failed to report it to the FA as regulations required. He apparently also made more controversial statements about backing the fake firm and third party ownership of players as well.

From this revelation though, it’s unclear which of the 8 profiled managers Redknapp is, possibly #3 or #7?