Wot, no 'bungs'?

By Colin Tattum on Apr 11, 08 09:42 AM

Those people imagining Karren Brady furtively slipping an agent a brown envelope stuffed with money at a Motorway service station somewhere on the M40 will be disappointed today.

Similarly, images of David Sullivan popping down to Stringfellows from his Essex mansion with a wad full of cash for a star player can be scrubbed.

The pair were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.

They went to Bishopsgate Police Station, east London, by prior arrangement - there were no dawn raids on their homes - questioned for five-and-a-half hours and released on bail.

But the police investigations are not centred around illegal payments or 'bungs', whatever you want to call it.

It is, to quote Sullivan, 'a complicated tax matter'.

In the grand scheme of things, it's not too big a deal. To the taxman, maybe, but the average Blues fan should not worry. The club is not about to come crashing down.

We're not talking hundreds of thousands of pounds, we're not talking match fixing or anything like that. And there have been all sorts of wild and wonderful theories.

The suspension of trading in shares, too, was a procedural move. It didn't mean that Carson Yeung was about to come charging in and take over, as half-wits on satellite television and national radio speculated.

Brady and Sullivan stress that they have not taken money out of the club or benefited financially from any of their actions. In short, there has been no wrong-doing, certainly no 'bungs'.

And, as I understand it, their legal people have told them that there is 'zero evidence'.

What police have been looking into is the transfers of Aliou Cisse and Ferdinand Coly, as named in national newspapers today, and the PAYE and National Insurance of those players.

It is believed that police are trying to ascertain whether any fees paid to the agent were in turn passed on to the players in order to ease their tax burden.

Cisse joined Blues from Paris St Germain in the summer of 2002 for ÃÂ£1.5 million. Coly came on loan in January 2003 from Lens and, after a disastrous few months, went back.

Cisse lost several members of his close and extended family in the Joola ferry disaster, just a couple of months into his St Andrew's career.

Yet he still formed a formidable pairing with Robbie Savage for Blues in that first season in the Premier
League of 2002-03.

Injury, lack of motivation and discipline - he reported back late for pre-season training - saw his stock fall. Cisse moved to Portsmouth for ÃÂ£300,000 in August 2004 and is now in France with Sedan.

Coly plays for Parma in Italy. He managed two appearances, was awful in both, and is probably best remembered at Wast Hills for Martin Grainger's comment that he 'looked like Predator'.

Both the Senegalese were represented by agent Willie McKay, who is currently on bail as part of the investigation by City of London Police
.
He insists he has nothing to hide, and so do Blues. He believes he is the victim of a 'witch hunt'.

McKay acted for recent Blues signings Olivier Kapo, James McFadden and David Murphy.

It is highly unlikely that the controversy will affect Blues performances.

There's been enough going on in the background at St Andrew's all season as it is, what with Yeung and the managerial change.

It's unfortunate for Brady and Sullivan that they now have this stigma attached, and the nudge-nudge,
wink-wink brigade will delight in them and Blues being implicated in the 'war on corruption in football',
whatever that is.

And it's started already: when Fabrice Muamba took his seat before the media at Wast Hills to talk about
the Everton game someone joked about a cold and said: 'bit bunged up, there, Fab?'.

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