Bungs are rife, says QPR boss

Queens Park Rangers chairman Nick Blackburn revealed today that offers of bungs to managers were still part of football.

In a programme about football agents to be broadcast on BBC2 tonight, the QPR chief alleged one agent had even calculated a bung in his fee during dealings over a free transfer.

Without identifying the people involved, Blackburn said he was alerted to the problem when the manager told him that the agent was demanding a £50,000 fee. Blackburn said the fee was ridiculous and asked the manager to quiz the agent why it was needed for a free transfer.

The QPR chairman told the programme: "The manager called me back and said 'I can't believe what I have just heard. I rang the agent and he said it is £50,000 because he believes he has to pay me around £30,000 of the money'.

"He costed into his agent's fee that there was going to be a bung to the manager. It's unbelievable."

The biggest scandal on backhanders involved former Arsenal manager George Graham, who left the club under a cloud after being found guilty of taking bungs on transfer deals totalling £425,500.

The programme, entitled "The Money Game: Soccer's Secret Agents", reports that £46million was paid to agents during the 2001-2 season alone for commissions on transfers and players' wage deals. It also claims that one agent asked for a fee of £750,000 for what amounted to around 16 minutes' work negotiating with a club's chief executive.

The football authorities yesterday made a pledge to make agents' involvement in transfer deals more transparent. The Football Association, Premier League and Football League are drawing up a plan to make it clearer exactly where funds go when a player switches clubs.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore plans talks with his FA counterpart Mark Palios on the issue.

The Football League plan to go even further. Chairman Sir Brian Mawhinney said: "We plan to publish twice a year the amount each club pays to agents."