Bungs are we implicated?
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EXCLUSIVE: BBC Bung storm
Beeb bung names revealed
By Rob Beasley
THE News of the World can reveal the football clubs, managers and staff targeted in the TV bung row tearing soccer apart.
High-profile staff at Bolton, Portsmouth and Middlesbrough have had letters from the BBC's Panorama programme telling them they have been suckered into an elaborate sting aimed at exposing the bung culture in English football.
Among the BBC's targets are Pompey manager Harry Redknapp, ex-player Kevin Bond, now at Newcastle, and Craig Allardyce, son of Bolton boss Sam.
Others involved are soccer agent Peter Harrison, Sven Goran Eriksson's manager Athole Still and England star Stewart Downing's agent Ian Elliott.
Undercover
They were among a long list of soccer personalities introduced to a German businessman called Knut Aufdemberge.
He claimed to represent a mega-rich American tycoon, Paul Silverman, who wanted to launch a new, money-rich sports agency in the UK called Dynamic Soccer.
What the football men did not know was that the two "businessmen" were really undercover BBC investigators.
The pair secretly recorded meetings and conversations over a six-month period.
They tried to persuade some of their targets to offer huge sums of money to Premiership managers illegally in a bid to involve them financially in the new agency.
All the BBC targets vigorously deny any wrong-doing.
They insist they refused to offer or accept bribes.
Harrison even sent an e-mail to Aufdemberge last April threatening to report him.
He then wrote to the FA two weeks ago, warning them that two mysterious businessmen were attempting to bribe Premiership managers.
But before that, Harrison helped set up a meeting between Redknapp, Bond and Aufdemberge at Portsmouth's training complex.
We contacted both Harrison and Redknapp last night and both refused to comment. The Portsmouth manager has made it known that he has contacted his lawyers to defend his reputation.
One man who did go on the record was Ian Elliott, who insisted he had done nothing wrong.
Buy
He explained: "I agreed to a meeting because I was told these people wanted to buy my company, Elliott Sports Management, for ??1.2million. It all seemed too good to be true.
"The meeting did not last long, about 20 minutes I think.
"Afterwards I told my accountant and my lawyer that things just didn't add up.
"And I must stress that the subject of paying managers or players was never raised by me or by them."
Bolton boss Sam Allardyce is privately furious that BBC bosses tried to take advantage of his son.
Craig Allardyce quit being a sports agent last month amid concerns he could be compromising his father's position in the game.
The BBC sting began last November when Aufdemberge first contacted Harrison.
The pair had a number of meetings and dinners to discuss the project. Aufdemberge claimed Silverman wanted to form a "super" agency in England.
His plan was to unite a number of top English agents who would work together to take on the game's biggest names.
Dynamic Soccer claimed they would pay managers cash bungs of around ??200,000 to get involved in their company.
But the News of the World understands that all the BBC's targets refused, insisting the plot would breach FA rules.
Harrison claims he was told he alone could earn a staggering ??1.8m if he could help to launch the agency successfully.
The agent was so keen to cash in he even wrote a detailed business plan for Silverman to put into operation and also recommended a number of agents who might be interested.
Corruption
He suggested Ian Elliott, Craig Allardyce and Athole Still.
A BBC insider said: "All the agents fell for the story.
"They had no idea the company was not for real or that the two individuals were in fact reporters.
"The tactics were to persuade them to offer Premiership managers large sums of money to get involved in the company. It was hoped it would uncover widespread corruption.
"Now there is a big legal row over what Panorama can or cannot screen."
FA chiefs have vowed to investigate, providing the BBC shows them its evidence.
The programme is due to be screened later this month ??? providing it gets the green light from lawyers.