by Tom Bower
Acknowledgements
The inspiration for this book were two of my sons, Alexander and Oliver, both football fanatics. In researching the book, I relied on a small army of generous football professionals – journalists, officials, politicians, club chairmen, managers and agents – whose help was invaluable.
My first thanks are to Oliver Figg whose expertise, enthusiasm, energy and swift research saved me repeatedly from despair. I deeply appreciate his help.
My second thanks are to Graham Hunter, a football aficionado, who encouraged me to undertake the book and provided an astonishing list of names and themes worth pursuing. Graham’s generosity and certainty of purpose were critical to motivate my interest.
I could not have started my research without the generous help of Michael Crick and David Conn, both outstanding journalists and football experts, who provided a further encyclopaedic list of topics to consider and the relevant contacts. Both deserve special thanks.
Others who were generously supportive and unstintingly helpful include Simon Banks, Oliver Butler, Hugh Dehn, Steve Downes, Rob Draper, David Hellier, Mark Hollingsworth, Matthew Holt, Mathew Horsman, Andrew Jennings, Mark Killick, Simon Kuper, Chris Lightbown, Gabriel Marrotti, Pat Masters, Kevin Mousley, Keely Storey, Rogan Taylor and Tony Yorke. Many others requested that their help should remain anonymous but I must finally thank Mihir Bose for considerable help, not least for directing me out of several dark corners.
In the course of researching the book, I interviewed over 200 people, some on several occasions. With the exception of one pompous club chairman, everyone proved to be in their own way helpful, charming and, despite my critical questions, fair. Suffice to say, I doubt if I made many new friends among those immersed in the football business but I have emerged with respect for a uniquely tough breed whose undoubted passion sustains a national phenomena enthralling millions of devoted fans every day. For many reasons, I will not individually thank all those who ‘welcomed’ me into their offices, football stadiums and favourite watering holes, but I doubt if either they or I will ever forget the experience!
In an unusual decision, based upon the advice of the lawyers who vetted this book, it has been decided that no interview sources will be provided or individually thanked. The reader should however be assured that every fact stated has been sourced and checked.
The legal chores were undertaken by David Hooper, an indefatigable friend, whose advice is priceless. The second vital support was provided by Michael Shaw of Curtis Brown, another veteran campaigner whose encouragement was critical to this book’s birth and completion.
At Simon and Schuster, I am grateful to Helen Gummer and Cassandra Campbell. Extra thanks to Martin Bryant for editing the paperback. I also owe a debt to Carol Anderson and Piers Burnett.
I also must thank my many loyal readers. Over the past years, I have been staggered by the number of letters and telephone calls from those who appreciate my books and bother to say, ‘Thank you’. Old and young, there are many people who boast a complete collection of my books and I hope that they enjoy the latest.
Finally, life is made tolerable and hugely enjoyable by my family – Nicholas, Oliver, Sophie, Alexander, and especially Veronica – whose interest in football has grown in parallel with mine over the past year. I thank them all.
Tom Bower has a distinguished reputation as an investigative historian, award-winning television producer and journalist. He is the author of several highly praised books about tycoons such as Tiny Rowland, Robert Maxwell and Richard Branson. His books on the Nazis – Blind Eye to Murder, The Paperclip Conspiracy and Blood Money – are regarded as groundbreaking, as are his two books on British intelligence, The Red Web and his biography of Sir Dick White. More recently he has written biographies of Gordon Brown and Conrad and Lady Black. He lives in London with his family.
Further praise for Broken Dreams
‘All fans should read this exposé of football’s financial secrets . . . A devastating book . . . Thanks to his trademark tenacity in the pursuit of elusive facts he has done football an important service by exposing its unseemly underbelly’ Anthony Holden, Observer
‘A devastating exposé of what goes on off the football pitch . . . an astonishing job of investigation . . . At times he even seems to know what goes on in other people’s bank accounts’ John Lanchester, Daily Telegraph
‘Bower’s diligence in rounding up details and “following the money” . . . is extraordinary’ Russell Davies, Sunday Telegraph
‘A fascinating exposé’ Sarah Edworthy, Daily Telegraph
‘Bower has pieced together a painstaking and detailed picture of football’s gold-rush economy’ Financial Times
‘This book should be read by all who love the game. It proves, definitively, that an independent regulator is needed more than ever. Maybe the government will listen this time’ Kate Hoey MP, minister for sport 1999–2001, New Statesman
‘Bower is one of the few investigative writers in this country to rival the best of the American tradition’ TLS
Also by Tom Bower
Blind Eye to Murder – the Pledge Betrayed
Klaus Barbie: The Butcher of Lyons
The Paperclip Conspiracy
Maxwell: The Outsider
The Reb Web
Tiny Rowland: The Rebel Tycoon
Heroes of World War II
The Perfect English Spy: Sir Dick White
Maxwell: The Final Verdict
Blood Money: The Swiss, the Nazis and the Looted Billions
Fayed: The Unauthorised Biography
Branson
The Paymaster: Geoffrey Robinson, Maxwell and New Labour
Gordon Brown
Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge
Notes
INTRODUCTION
‘make the bucks while you can’: Harry Redknapp, ’Arry: An Autobiography, (HarperCollinsWillow, 1999), p.186.
CHAPTER 1: THE SOLITARY INVESTIGATOR
a match in 1973 for Dunstable: News of the World, 19 November 1978.
for Queens Park Rangers: The Times, 5 October 1979.
‘the law of our life’: News of the World, 6 November 1979.
to allow goals through: Leo McKinstry, Jack & Bobby, (HarperCollinsWillow, 2002), pp.147–8.
£600,000 for unpaid taxes: Sunday Mirror, 12 October 1997.
sums of cash in brown envelopes: Sunday Mirror, 12 October 1997.
examination of its accounts: Daily Telegraph, 31 January 1995.
receive British citizenship: Daily Star, 11 August 2000.
the couple parted: Daily Mail, 26 March 1993.
‘I only broke the rules slightly’: Mirror, 17 May 1995.
to increase their value: Independent, 18 December 2000.
for 100,000 Swiss francs: Guardian, 28 March 1997.
‘any single act I could think of’: The Times, 24 December 1994.
jury failed to reach a verdict: The Times, 4 March 1997.
was being ‘ripped off’: The Times, 1 February 1995.
‘men who run our national sport’: Mirror, 24 February 1995.
CHAPTER 2: THE HERO
‘himself and those around him’: Eddie Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., (Blake Publishing Ltd), pp.159.
‘I had saved Tottenham’: ibid., pp.186–7.
‘designed to deceive’: ‘Affadavit of Graham Richard Horne, deputy inspector of companies of the DTI, 1995, in the matter of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Terence Frederick Venables’ (DTI Report), p.46 & ‘Trial Transcript before Mr Justice Walker, 17 April 1997’.
‘scaring the shit out of me’: Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., p.193.
‘everything except football’: ibid., p.21.
‘a dream come true’: ibid., p.130.
‘I’m a bankrupt’: ibid., p.234.
for his Tottenham shares: ibid., pp.236–7.
‘and lose fucking money?’: ibid., p.323.
a profit on his in
vestment: ibid., p.328.
before Sugar’s arrival: ibid., p.208.
‘the regulations of the Football League’: ibid., p.340.
‘I’m a one-man-orchestra’: ibid., p.256.
impropriety in the club: Sunday Mirror, 12 October 1997.
represented by Eric Hall: Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., p.285.
inserting stories into newspapers: The FA Premier League’s Commission of Inquiry (FAPL) Report, Introduction p.20.
conflicts of interest to flourish: ibid., p.9.
denied the allegation: ibid., p.17.
‘You can’t survive unless you fiddle’: Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., p.210.
‘would be a mammoth task’: ibid., p.18.
In the chaos: ibid., p.17.
his own assets and loans: ibid., pp.261–2.
‘as long as we could’: DTI Report, p.19.
finance his entertainment: Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., p.370.
British basketball league: New York Times, 17 September 1982.
‘try to do a dodgy deal’: Taped interview of Richard Tessel by Tony Yorke, 1994.
paid each club £100,000: ibid.
‘I don’t deal with agents’: Sunday People, 9 July 1989.
from his account in Monaco: Taped interview of Richard Tessel by Tony Yorke, 1994.
either the player or the club: Today, 20 June 1987
‘the law on playing matters’: FAPL Report, Introduction pp.5–6; Sunday Mirror, 19 October 1997.
those lodged with the FA: FAPL Report, K p.12.
The parcel was handed over: Mail on Sunday, 26 October 1997.
£2 million in July 1993: Sunday Telegraph, 19 October 1997.
‘which weren’t there already’: FAPL Report, Introduction p.20.
‘no point in taking it further’: Independent, 10 December 2001.
‘commission from where you could’: FAPL Report, Introduction p.17.
during that year from the club: Tottenham Hotspur Board meeting, 7 August 1991, Second Minute, p.244.
would be £37,500: Sunday People, 26 June 1994.
‘He’s pig ignorant’: Taped interview of Richard Tessel by Tony Yorke, 1994.
‘a fuckin geezer with one leg’: Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., p.198.
‘I’m a fuckin’ maestro at it’: ibid., p.202 ; FAPL Report, Gascoigne, Introduction p.13 and Part 2.
income from the deal: Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., p.217.
for fraud in totally unrelated matters: ibid., p.289.
Roach denied receiving any money: Tottenham Hostpur Board meeting, 7 August 1991, Second Minute, p.244.
‘like a dead body’: Taped interview of Richard Tessel by Tony Yorke, 1994.
accumulated at least £71,000: FAPL Report, Gascoigne, Introduction p.13 and Part 2.
‘a very sensitive area’: Tottenham Hotspur Board meeting, 7 August 1991, Second Minute, p.244.
‘to the appropriate authorities’: ibid.
‘any letters written’: Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., p.332.
‘immediate action is taken’: ibid., p.333.
report the issue to the Football League: ibid., p.333.
action against Scholar for ‘misfeasance’: ibid., p.338.
had proved to be a failure: ibid., p.478.
weaken his influence: Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., p.303.
an unorthodox finance company: ibid., p.305.
falsely claimed to own: DTI Report, pp.93–4.
trading while permanently insolvent: DTI Report, p.74.
loan of £500,000 to Venables: DTI Report, p.81.
the Independent newspaper: Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., p.414.
‘Mr Ashby’s bankruptcy per se’: DTI Report, p.105; Tottenham Hotspur Board meeting minute, 28 January 1993, p.693 and meeting minute 5 Sept 1992, p.533.
authorize a procurement fraud: FAPL Report, Introduction p.26.
‘anything like this before’: ibid., p.25.
between himself and Clough: ibid., pp.130–3.
‘the file had disappeared’: Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., p.420.
his remaining three-year contract: Ashby, Bungs, Bribes and Sweet F.A., p.647.
unwilling to surrender: ibid., p.704.
CHAPTER 3: THE RELUCTANT INVESTIGATORS
‘It’s a forgery’: Panorama, ‘The Manager’, 16 September 1993, p.756.
‘full positive’: Report by G. Jenkinson for BBC TV, 23 May 1997.
won £150,000 in damages: Panorama, p.738.
undisclosed ‘loans’ to players: ibid., p.434.
‘as repeatedly promised’: Paul Kendrew, Inland Revenue, to Terry Venables, 28 November 1994.
four police investigations: Panorama, pp.774–5.
a vehicle for intruders: The Times, 15 March 1995.
transfers of players to the club: The FA and Premier League’s Commission of Inquiry (FAPL) Report, Introduction p.20.
‘a letter with your proposal’: FAPL Report, Introduction p.20.
‘too much money out of it’: ibid., Introduction p.7.
resold by Nottingham Forest: ibid., B p.10.
profits from Hauge: ibid., B p.19.
a trawler visiting Hull: ibid., L p.7; Daily Telegraph, 20 September 1997.
bank account in Guernsey: FAPL Report, Introduction p.11.
‘number of “paybacks” which are involved’: ibid., F p.12.
‘introduction to the market’: ibid., F p.16.
aiding Jensen’s transfer: ibid., F p.20.
cash in a Dublin bank: ibid., F p.14.
‘George wanted a whole brewery’: Sunday Times, 5 January 1997.
‘any substantive questions’: Daily Telegraph, 24 February 1995.
‘best interests of the club’: Arsenal’s public statement, 21 February 1995.
‘I have made no money from transfers’: Daily Telegraph, 22 February 1995.
‘benefited from any transfer’: Evening Standard, 23 February 1995.
the report was published: The Times, 24 February 1995.
‘We will meet that responsibility’: Daily Telegraph, 13 July 1995.
‘to the odd paper bag’: Observer, 26 February 1995.
‘direct to the selling club’: FAPL Report, Introduction p.13.
‘Do you fancy ten years in a cell?’: Taped interview of Richard Tessel by Tony Yorke, 1994.
commissions among four people: News of the World, 25 November 2001.
‘That is our business’: Mail on Sunday, 16 April 1995.
‘where the money went’: News of the World, 25 November 2001.
Roach strongly denied: Sunday Mirror, 22 December 2002.
resolved some chicanery: Mail on Sunday, 18 June 1995.
‘stories about where it went’: Guardian, 25 October 1995.
‘evaporated without substantiation’: FAPL Report, Introduction p.2.
Venables refused any explanations: Taped interview of Richard Tessel by Tony Yorke, 1994.
refusal to 10 Downing Street: Independent, 1 February 1996.
builder denied receiving any money: FAPL Report, G pp.128–9.
he offered a third explanation: Terry Venables, Venables: The Autobiography, (Penguin, 1995), pp.87–91.
both were lying: FAPL Report, Introduction p.143.
vital ingredient of the transfer: ibid., pp.64, 77,85, 87, 90, 143.
would never be another ‘bungs’ inquiry: Independent on Sunday, 1 September 1996.
‘mislead the Inquiry in their evidence’: FAPL Report, Introduction p.141.
‘jail me if possible’: Observer, 21 September 1997.
a similar destabilizing investigation: Observer, 23 January 1998 and 16 September 1998.
CHAPTER 4: THE CHAIRMAN
‘the best deal for football’: Chris Horrie, Premiership, (Pocket, 2002), p.71.
produced £700,000 in profits: Daily Express, 12 April 1971.
‘I am fully involved in the group’
: BBC Radio 5, ‘Take it to the Bridge’, 11 December 2000.
‘with one absent’: Financial Times, 25 February 1969.
$50 million of profits: Public Records Office, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), 12 October 1970, 44/461.
on 20 January 1967: FCO, 13 March 1970, 44/456.
source of future earnings: Public Records Office, Treasury, 317/1512.
‘breaking the rules’: Financial Times, 16 July 1968.
‘living off our wits’: Financial Times, 8 July 1964.
divide and rule: Daily Mail, 2 October 1998.
incensed the local population: FCO, 9 February 1970, 44/454, 44/463 and FCO, 20 February 1970, 44/461.
‘cavalier attitude’: FCO, 9 February 1970, 44/463.
promised tax concessions: FCO, 15 December 1970, 44/465.
‘or he gets out altogether’: FCO, 12 March 1970, 44/456.
compelled to abandon the islands: FCO, 7 October 1970, 44/461; FCO, 25 November 1970, 44/463.
‘give way’ without compensation: FCO, 20 February 1970, 44/461; FCO, 14 January 1970, 44/454.
future American investors: FCO, 20 February 1970, 44/455.
‘social security scheme on the island’: FCO, 31 January 1970, 44/459.
‘misled by Bates’: FCO, 4 August 1970, 44/459.
‘reputation will stink’: FCO, 12 October 1970, 44/461.
‘offensive, abusive and unhelpful’: FCO, 16 December 1970, 44/465.
‘due to Mr Bates’: Public Records Office, Treasury, 31 March 1971, 317/1513.
threatening compulsory purchase: FCO, 25 November 1970, 44/463/4.
‘a blatant piece of theft’: FCO, 16 December 1970, 44/465.
to seek a settlement: Public Records Office, Treasury, 25 March 1971, T317/1513.
$6.8 million and probably more: FCO, 19 April 1971, 44/624.
‘It’s grossly unfair’: FCO, 2 June 1971, 44/627.
‘creditors in the lurch’: FCO, 25 March 1971 and 29 March 1971, 44/624.
driven off by his wife: Irish Times, 24 March 1976.
‘His pace was too fast’: Financial Times, 25 February 1969.
