Lord Stevens and his Quest team just finished his exhaustive scrutiny of 362 transfers in the English league from January 2004 to the present year and has cleared all but 17 of them of wrongdoing. However, he refuses to reveal which agents, players, or clubs are involved in the spotlight. Eight agents have refused to co-operate with the investigation.
In September 2006, BBC’s Panorama investigated tapping up, bung taking, and rule breaking in soccer transfers. In the programme, three agents alleged that Sam Allardyce had profited from bungs involving player transfers. Panorama also alleged that Chelsea had tapped up Middlesborough youth player, Nathan Porritt. Allardyce has threatened legal action against the BBC.
The FA and not Quest has insisted on the hush hush nature of the investigation. There is a feeling that some pretty big names will be revealed by the end of the investigation. The FA chairman, Richard Scudamore has promised that if there is any malpractice, that the clubs will be named by the FA and charges brought on them.
Another disturbing finding is that there is a cabal of 20 agents that seem to share the profits from agents fees without the clubs or players knowledge of their association.