Police raid top football clubs

12 April 2012

Three leading football clubs were raided by police yesterday as the drive against corruption took a dramatic turn.

Newcastle United and Portsmouth, of the Premiership, and Glasgow Rangers were the subject of co-ordinated raids by the City of London police.

The homes of two unnamed individuals were also searched.

Scroll down for more

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp (left), Rangers manager Walter Smith and Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce

Newcastle and Portsmouth were two of the clubs named by former police chief Lord Stevens last year in his ongoing investigation into soccer's "bung" culture.

It is examining allegations that managers and officials were bribed to sign certain players.

The City of London police insisted its inquiry was independent of the Stevens report but the two inquiries are thought to share much common ground.

Around 40 plain-clothed officers from the economic crime unit searched offices at the three clubs' stadiums.

Computers were taken away for examination from St James's Park, Newcastle.

The raids follow the arrest last month of a 61-year-old man in Manchester on suspicion of money laundering.

Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce and Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp featured in a Panorama investigation into transfers but were not thought to have been connected to the operation.

A police spokesman said the raids were "in connection with corruption in football and its impact on owners and shareholders".

Portsmouth and Rangers issued statements saying they were co-operating fully with the police investigation.

Newcastle United said the club was not the subject of the police inquiry.

A spokesman added: "If investigations show the club has been the victim of any criminal activity, the club will take appropriate action."

Lord Stevens examined more than 300 transfers and expressed concern about 15 agents and third parties involved in 17 transfers to or from Newcastle, Chelsea, Bolton, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth.

One of the transfers was referred directly to the police and details were not published.

Since 2004, eight players have moved between Newcastle and Rangers or Newcastle and Portsmouth. None have moved directly between Rangers and Portsmouth.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in