Football

LONDON — The Football Association has confirmed they are investigating allegations of "systemic corruption" surrounding the controversial proposed sale of Wembley to Fulham owner Shahid Khan.

Craig Kline, Fulham’s former assistant director of football operations, used a series of Twitter posts to demand the FA stop the planned sale.

Kline, a university friend of Khan’s son Tony, was sacked by Fulham last year when his relationships with other senior figures broke down.

But Kline has now posted three tweets on his account saying he and Tony Khan have a "paper trail" of evidence about "fraud, child endangerment and exploitation" in the game.

His first tweet, sent on Monday from the account @CRK1006, said: "Dear FA Council (+relevant police, MPs, regulators, press etc). I have key evidence of systemic corruption relevant to the Wembley vote which I’d like to submit. Please request this info from me."

The FA Council meets on Thursday to discuss Shahid Khan’s £600 million ($800 million) offer to buy Wembley, a deal which has divided opinion in the English game.

In a statement, an FA spokesperson said: "We have recently been contacted by Craig Kline who has made a series of allegations about Fulham FC. We are currently in the process of reviewing these allegations."

Shahid Khan refuted the allegations in a statement through his spokesperson.

"This is nothing more than the same ongoing nonsense and bogus claims made by a former employee who left the club in 2017. Nothing here merits a further response," the statement read.

Kline’s time at Fulham was punctuated by frequent rows with the club’s coaching staff and other executives as he tried to enforce a data-based approach to player recruitment.

After being dismissed, he made several allegations about his Fulham colleagues to the police and posted several of them online, including claims of bullying and racism, but the police dismissed them and the tweets were deleted.

Meanwhile, the FA’s chief financial officer says Khan’s offer is the best they could possibly receive.

During a three-hour presentation to FA councillors and county FA leaders at St George’s Park, Mark Burrows said: "This is a serious and very credible offer and it’s a far better deal than we would have got in the market. A forced seller would not get a deal like this.

"And the FA will save £72 million in capital expenditure over the next six years. It’s £18 million this year. We are immediately off the hook for this and it’s the biggest number in the turnover equation.

"So we would be better off by handing over the stadium to them, never mind the £600 million." — AFP