Or at least that was what we were expecting given the hype surrounding Lord Stevens’ ‘Bung’ inquiry. But the results have been entirely unspectacular, bereft of scandal and, quite frankly, a bit boring.
Sky Sports reports,
Chelsea, Newcastle, Bolton, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth have all been named, and some of the clubs could now face further investigation by the Football Association.
Newcastle’s signings of Emre, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Amdy Faye and Albert Luque, Bolton’s purchases of Ali Al-Habsi, Tal Ben Haim, Blessing Kaku and Julio Correia, Portsmouth’s transfers for Collins Mbesuma, Benjani Mwaruwari and Aliou Cisse and Middlesbrough’s deals for Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Fabio Rochemback have all been identified.
Premiership runners-up Chelsea have also been named, with the signings of Didier Drogba, Petr Cech and Michael Essien causing Stevens some concern.
Agents seem to be the primary targets of any accusations of dodgy payments. But we can’t help but feel this whole thing will end in a few wrist slaps and maybe a couple of inconsequential fines – if that. A couple of the clubs have even been found innocent already. There’s been no serious allegations thus far and it seems like the best they can do is to say that certain transfers “concern” Lord Stevens. That’s it? No outrage? No finger pointing? No billions of pounds in illegal payments made to terrorist groups in the Middle East?
Hooray.