The Football Association has issued more than 50 charges in connection with alleged breaches of rules at Championship outfit Luton Town, after an extensive investigation.The charges relate to player transfers and contract renegotiations between July 2004 and February 2007.
The club, former chairman Bill Tomlins, ex-finance director Derek Peter and current directors John Mitchell and Richard Bagehot have all been charged.
Six licensed players' agents have also been charged.
The investigation took over just under a year to complete, and the findings implicate six agents as having accepted payments totalling around £160,000, by the club's holding company Jayten (also known as J10) Stadium Limited, which crucially were not disclosed to the FA on the required forms.
The six agents have been charged with knowingly accepting payments from Jayten for their services to the club in securing the services of players.
In addition, it has been alleged that services for the benefit of a Luton player, totalling approximately £7,000, were paid for directly by Jayten but were not disclosed on the player's contract.
The full charges are as follows:
Luton Town have 17 charges, relating to payments to agents for nine specific player negotiations which were allegedly made through Jayten, rather than through the club as required by FA rules.
The Hatters have also been charged with provision of misleading information to the FA, not holding representation contracts with the relevant agents for the above negotiations, and dealing with two unlicensed agents (both through Jayten and directly).
Former chairman Bill Tomlins has been handed 15 charges. It is alleged that he was directly involved in 19 of the rule breaches listed above (except negotiations with two unlicensed agents which were not conducted through Jayten).
Former finance director Derek Peter is alleged to have approved payments made by Jayten in relation to the nine player negotiations.
Current directors John Mitchell and Richard Bagehot are charged with failing to report the alleged rule breaches to the FA when they became aware of them.
Licensed players' agents Sky Andrew, Mike Berry, Mark Curtis, Stephen Denos, David Manasseh and Andrew Mills are each charged with failing to ensure that payments to them were made and disclosed through the proper channels, and failing to enter into representation contracts with the club for specific services rendered in relation to to above negotiations.
All parties have until 30 November to respond to the charges.
Luton have issued a statement on their website, stating that "at this point in time the club has no comment to make on these allegations".
There is no indication yet as to what punishments might be enforced if the charges were proved.
Oh dear, I'm sure there's a logical explanation and i'm sure this silly misunderstanding will be sorted out.
