Football

Krueger: Black allegations do not directly affect Southampton

Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger has distanced the club from corruption allegations made by the Daily Telegraph against assistant first-team manager Eric Black,

Black was filmed by an undercover reporter from the newspaper purporting to be a member of a Far East investment firm and the former Scotland international appeared to suggest a colleague from a different club might be able to pass on information about players for payment.

Such payments are prohibited by the Football Association and Southampton released a statement on Thursday pledging to investigate “any situation that directly or indirectly relates to our club, employees or the wider community”.

In quotes given to ESPN FC, Krueger stated Black’s case does not come under those situations directly relating to Southampton.

“We will participate completely in the process to make sure that this is an opportunity for English football,” he said, regarding a wide-ranging investigation by the Telegraph that prompted the departure of England manager Sam Allardyce earlier this week.

“In regards to the situation with Eric, it’s a personal issue for him. It has nothing directly to do with us as a club.

“I don’t have enough information to make judgment on it. All I know is that Southampton Football Club is going to do everything possible to participate with the Football Association in finding ways to improve regulation as a result. That’s all I can tell you.”

QPR have announced they are unable to proceed further with an internal investigation into Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, their manager who was alleged by the Telegraph to have negotiated a £55,000 fee to serve as a sports ambassador for a company that wanted to sell players to his club.

Hasselbaink has denied any wrongdoing and will be in charge for Saturday’s Championship match against Fulham, with his legal team and QPR awaiting full disclosure of the Telegraph’s investigation.

A statement from the club read: “QPR can confirm that we are currently unable to proceed any further with the club’s internal investigation at this stage, as the Telegraph are yet to provide full and complete unconditional disclosure of all the information it has, despite a number of requests from both the club and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s legal team.

“We urge the Telegraph to provide full disclosure of all its information relating to the allegations, including video footage and a full transcript of the discussions that took place.

“The club believes this information should not be provided selectively, but unedited and unconditionally, in order for the club to view the full context and the sequence of what was said by all parties to include in its investigation.”

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