- Title: Barnsley assistant suspended amid newspaper 'bung' allegations
- Date: 29th September 2016
- Summary: ROME, ITALY (FILE - AUGUST 24, 2011) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** MASSIMO CELLINO ARRIVING FOR A SERIE A MEETING
- Embargoed: 14th October 2016 09:45
- Keywords: Hasselbaink Tommy Wright Cellino corruption Telegraph
- Location: LONDON, IPSWICH, BURNLEY, ENGLAND AND, CARDIFF, WALES, UNITED KINGDOM / ROME, ITALY
- City: LONDON, IPSWICH, BURNLEY, ENGLAND AND, CARDIFF, WALES, UNITED KINGDOM / ROME, ITALY
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Soccer,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA00251MBWOV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: English Championship club Barnsley suspended their assistant manager Tommy Wright on Wednesday (September 29), saying they will examine allegations made against him in the newspaper investigation that has already seen the England manager Sam Allardyce lose his job.
Among more revelations over alleged corruption in football, Britain's Daily Telegraph also made claims against former Dutch international striker and now Queens Park Rangers manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who, like Wright, denies wrongdoing.
The allegations were published 24 hours after Allardyce left the England job for "inappropriate" behaviour following secret filming that showed him offering advice to businessmen on how to "get around" rules on player transfers.
The newspaper said its secret filming showed Wright, assistant at the Yorkshire club that plays in the second tier of English football, accepting a cash "bung" of 5,000 pounds after agreeing to help a fake Far Eastern firm which wanted to profit from transfers.
Barnsley said in a statement on Wednesday that "the club has today suspended Tommy pending an internal investigation into these allegations."
The Telegraph article quoted a spokesman for Wright as saying: "Any suggested acts contrary to criminal law or those of the FA and FIFA are categorically denied."
The newspaper also published film of Hasselbaink allegedly agreeing to represent the same firm by flying to the Far East to talk to investors for a fee of 55,000 Pounds.
A statement from QPR on Wednesday said there would be an internal investigation but that they had every confidence in Hasselbaink. The manager himself said: "I deny any accusations of wrongdoing on my part."
Leeds owner Massimo Cellino was also named in the report, allegedly offering to sell shares in Leeds United to the fake firm.
Leeds United have issued a statement on Wednesday denying any wrongdoing. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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